Vespertilio
by Sakura123
Summary: In an attempt to repair a childhood project, Reed Richards accidentally opens a window to another dimension  The Negative Zone  with major repercussions and consequences on his world and himself.  COMPLETE
1. Part I: Vespertilio, Eptesicus,  Myotis

_**Vespertilio**_

* * *

**Author: Sakura123**

**Rating: T **(For brief nudity, violence, mild character death, and partial language)

**Genre: **Science Fiction/Action Adventure

**Summary:** In an attempt to repair a childhood project, Reed Richards accidentally opens a window to another dimension (the N-Zone) with major repercussions and consequences on his world. An idea I got from reading the first several pages of UltimateFF4 vol.1 TPB, and Fantastic Four, vol.3, #24 (December 1999). Takes place after the battle with Dr. Doom and before Reed proposes to Sue.

**Disclaimer:** Fantastic Four and all its characters (ultimate or normal Marvel alike), places are property of Stan Lee and the late Jack Kirby; 2005 _Fantastic Four_ Film is copyrighted to 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises. I own nothing but original characters and the storyline, all rights reserved.

**Authors note:** Constructive Criticism please. 'II' denotes a character of the same name & 'Negative' denotes a evil double of the same name. The description of Reed's apartment might be a bit off too.

**Edited:** 12/28/2012

* * *

Within the crowded downtown district of New York, surrounded by the busy traffic of the early morning hour resided the Baxter Building. Though many of its many occupants were sleep in their respective rooms, Reed Richards wasn't among them. Sitting at his desk, his pencil slid across the rough sketch paper with ease. The image unfolding from his mind onto the paper. It been two weeks since he had been put into an almost frozen state of body by Victor Doom. Reed had blessed a similar treatment to Doom himself, ironically. Johnny, Ben, and Sue had made it out all right through the battle since they did do most of the work. Aside from the period of lack of power with Johnny and Sue, they were physically fine, they just wouldn't be using their powers again until they returned to their peek.

Reed's body had been off balance since he used the machine on himself and truly taxed himself out, trying to keep Victor at bay for the others with little time to recover. His malleability had been on and off in other words. Sometimes his body would stretch as far as he wanted to it to go. Other times his body wouldn't budge an inch despite his mental command. Sue suggested that his body was recharging, thus retreating into a state that mimicked its _normal_ state before the cosmic rays altered him. Reed agreed for the most part but was afraid that the physical abuse his body endured had reversed his abnormality. The fear of not being able to help the others, whenever, was almost unbearable. "That would be impossible Reed," Sue said. "It would take a cosmic ray to change you back, not physical strain." Reed once again agreed, but the fear remained for some time until he was able to stretch again.

He and Ben were on speaking terms once again. Their disagreement had been all but forgotten, though neither of them spoke of it since Victor had been picked up by his assistant and carried away to God knows where. Ah yes, life was to a point back to normal, aside from the constant presence news reporters hanging around the Baxter Building wanting to get their, quote "thoughts on fighting a former MIT student, colleague, and friend." The four would take shifts going out of the building when the buzzards weren't around (Sue first - Johnny second - Reed third - and Ben last) to get important provisions needed to go on with daily life. Reed continued to strain away at finding a stronger power source for the machine to change Ben back to his former human guise. Other times he found himself pondering on the fact aside from wanting to help them, why Ben had willingly changed back to into the orange Golem he had strived to distance himself from. Guilt or responsibility? He wanted to know but was too afraid to ask his long-time-friend in fear that he would offend him.

Stretching his aching limbs, Reed stared down at the sketch book with a proud look upon his face. After two hours of no sleep, he had finally finished his drawing of Baxter Building structure. It wasn't bad for a rough draft if he didn't say of himself. Scratching the back of his neck, Reed got up from his desk and turned the light off. He moved silently through the empty living room, the sun would be up any time now and like the sun itself everyone else would be up moving about. Reed had never minded the empty feeling of his home, though lately he didn't mind the company he had now in the building either.

Even it was for a short period of time. Ben had told him he was defiantly staying here since he wasn't welcomed at Debbie's any longer, Johnny and Susan were considering moving back to the Storm household seeing that they finally had a hold on their powers now. Richards was, naturally, against Sue leaving so soon after they patched things up between each other, but wasn't entitled to tell her where to live.

Stepping into the kitchen Reed pulled out the pitcher of lukewarm coffee had put on (half an hour ago) off the coffee maker. Pouring himself some of the brown liquid into a mug, he was then off again wandering about the house. There was still plenty of time to himself, only six -thirty-one. Swallowing a large portion of the luke warm liquid, Reed headed into his bedroom at the end of the hall. He was careful not to wake the others who resided on the left and right sides of the hall. On his bed resided the Stephen King novel _Dream catcher_, walking past he headed out onto the balcony. The cool morning breeze nipped at his unprotected skin, pulling his robe closer to his body Reed peered over the edge.

The cars had yet to pick up their normal speed, Reed rubbed the sleep out of his eyes when he propped his chin on the palm of his hand. He was feeling unnaturally down this morning, though he suspected it was the cold coffee. Reed thought of a way to cheer himself up. After all - he had nothing to be unhappy about, aside from the unnatural occurrence of the white hair that formed round the sides of his head which had grown whiter over the last two weeks. Reed's mouth pouted slightly at the memory of Johnny's comment on his hair. Downing the last of the cold coffee, Reed reentered the house for something to eat. His feet were protesting against the cold hardwood floors, groaning he went back into his bedroom to dress.

Once he put on a T-shirt, a pair worn out jeans and SOCKS, Reed made his way back through the halls, the living room and into the kitchen. "Hey Reed, been up long?" Ben Grimm's gruff voice startled the scientist, a loud crash below followed. Ben's blue eyes followed Reed's elongated arm down to the broken part on the floor with an almost humored look on his face (assuming you could catch it). Ben glanced up at his struggling friend. It was extremely rare that his body would stretch according to his emotions. "And I thought I had problems," He sighed jokingly. Reed rolled his eyes lowering himself to the ground, he had made a considerable hole in the ground, about the size of his fist. If gone unnoticed someone would defiantly get hurt.

Exhaling slowly, Reed's arm transfigured into that of a thin, almost paper-like, form. He retracted his arm with ease, it soon returned to its normal state. One of the many perks of a malleable body. Standing up right Reed headed over to the corner of the fridge, remembering he had left a small rectangle piece of wood around that area. "Uh, I've only been up for two hours at most. How'd you sleep?" Reed asked reaching behind the fridge. "Like a rock," Ben answered dryly. Reed laughed inventively at the remark his friend made, retracting his arm from behind the fridge. He grinned triumphantly at the sight of the piece of wood in his hand. "Are you hungry? I can make waffles or . . . ," Reed paused at the sight of Ben waving his hand in a dismissive way.

"No thanks egghead. I'm not hungry," Grimm said quickly. Reed fell quiet afterward, he headed out the kitchen (dodging the hold he had made) into his lab for the hammer and some nails. When he returned, Ben had donned his hat and new trench coat, Reed felt a pang of disappointment in the pit of his stomach. "Ben, where are you going?" He asked entering the kitchen. Ben seemed to be oblivious to Reed's question as he slipped into his custom-made sneakers. Reed went on to patch up the hole in the kitchen floor, he hammered the nails into through the wood until they were securely fit in their place.

Reed stood up to admire his work, the wood was a bit crooked but it shouldn't obstruct anyone's walking pattern too much. "Hey, egghead, I'm gonna go out for a while," Ben finally announced. Reed turned in response with a nod. "I'll see you later then," Reed sighed distractedly, waving. Ben grumbled something incoherent as he left the apartment. Reed hoped there were no reporters out this time of morning (7:00am), otherwise they'd be in a real surprise; Ben was no early morning person, especially nowadays. He put the hammer on the table, eager to find himself something to eat since he wouldn't be making waffles.

Johnny had recently bought a box of Honneynut Cheerios, maybe he would eat those over a highly nutritious meal as scrambled eggs with ketchup. Extending his arm, he Reached into the cabinets, grabbing a bowl and a spoon from the silverware drawer. Putting the two items on the table, Reed stared at the fridge with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Stepping back a few paces, Reed placed himself against the counter and raised his arm.

His arm extended easily toward the fridge, his knuckles brushed against the handle; Grinning Reed grasped the handle of the door and opened it. Within a second he grabbed the milk carton out of the fridge and closed the door with his other hand. His arms returned to their normal state once he sat at the table, he poured the milk into his bowl and his cereal last, Reed put away the Cheerios and milk before proceeding to eat.

* * *

Sue Storm aroused slightly to a soft prickle that danced across her cheek, she swatted it away the first time she felt it. It continued on throughout her slumber, though her mind was barely aware of it. Sue was more or less in too sweet of a dream to tell the difference between a feather duster running across her face and Reed Richard's lips touching her invisible nose at the planetarium. Her shoulders hunched as she burrowed deeper into her covers rasing her arms over head (which was currently invisible). Hovering over her was her brother, Johnny Storm.

He had tried this trick on Ben and it worked once, the second time the feather duster was snatched out of his hand by the former man and he was almost knocked onto the floor by the ogre's large fist if Sue hadn't been there to block it. Susan's lips smacked in anticipation, puckering slightly. The moment was almost there, Reed moved in closer to her face. Johnny chuckled silently as he dragged the feather duster across her sister's unseen face, the covers shifted every time he did and every once and a while Susan's solid form would appear for a brief second before vanishing again. In her hand resided the cool whip with chocolate sauce added for good measure, Johnny slid the feathers across her face once again. Sue's hand moved a little closer to her face.

_. . . . One more push outta do it,_ The young man though with a grin then stopped. The wheels were turning in his head, he had an even better idea to wake his sister up! Tucking the duster under his arm Johnny raised his hands to mouth creating his own sort of loud speaker. If this didn't wake her up, nothing would. Inhaling deeply Johnny leaned over his sister and prepared for the final moment. . . . .

". . . .SUE! WAKE UP!"

_Wack!_ The hand came down on the invisible Woman's face quicker than Johnny could jump over her bed and run out of the room. Sue's heart skipped several beats at the realization that she had whipped cream covered in chocolate on her face, in her hair and running down her neck onto the pillow. "Johnny Storm!" Whipping the cream from her eyes, she flew out of the bed like a bat out of hell and charged out of the room after her brother.

* * *

Reed was swallowing his cereal when Johnny came dashing into the living room, with one arm in his leather jacket and timberland boots. Reed stepped out of the kitchen to greet the youngest of their group. "Johnny, where are you going?" He asked, puzzled. Johnny just pointed to the hallway. Reed followed in the direction, his eyebrow raised in question. The last thing Johnny wanted happening to him was being blasted by one his sister's offensive force fields. "Can't talk now Reed, I'll see you later," He said hastily before flying out of the apartment. Reed sighed dejectedly as Sue came stumbling out of the hall into the living room invisible. Reed blinked a few times before actually realizing that Susan's body was not actually visible.

But he did notice the large amount of whipped cream on her face. "Where is he!" She bellowed angrily. Reed figured she was referring to Johnny who had just left the apartment, the bodyless pajamas turned to the scientist. The cuff of the pants bounced indicating that she was tapping foot. Reed's arm raised from his side gesturing to the hall that lead to the front door. "He went out," He said. The pajamas marched out of the living room grumbling idle threats. Running his tongue across his teeth Reed reentered the kitchen to finish breakfast, his ears picked up the sound of the showering running.

* * *

Sue wiped her unseen face with her wash cloth angrily. That slime of a brother would pay dearly for ruining her slumber. Now her body clock was all off, which mean she was going to be dosing off in the afternoon. "Stupid Johnny," Sue growled rinsing the wash cloth off. The whipped cream and chocolate rushed down the drain along with the water, fading. Placing the cloth on the side of the sink Sue proceeded to undress herself, her pajama pants and underwear fell to the floor in a heap, her spaghetti top shirt was next to follow. "Oh!" Sue rushed over to the door and closed it. The bolt of the lock slid into place. Sue thought back to the last time she left the door unlocked.

She had done it on purpose just to show off in front of Reed, to show him she had _perfect_ control of her powers. It had worked but not in the way she had intended. Sue thought she had gone invisible beforehand and got caught with her pants down when Reed opened the door to find her naked in the shower, quite visible. Sue's face burned momentarily before she stepped under the warm flow of the shower, the water cooled her right off. Grasping her soap hanging off a rope on the showerhead, Sue began to rub her body down in the cleansing suds. Her bad mood lessened from the soothing touch of the water running down her body. Her blonde hair stuck to her back like seaweed.

* * *

Reed made his way into his bedroom, his eyes still weary from the sleepless night he endured. His neck ached from being hunched over his desk sitting on the chair's edge, squinting through the sleep that invaded his eyes. Rubbing his right eye Reed fell onto his bed, tucking his arms in he rested his chin upon his forearm and stared out at the large balcony, wishing there was a nice scenery to look at instead of the large looming buildings across from the Baxter Building. The wind blew lightly into the room bringing with it the faint sour smell of city pollution. A direct product from the very buildings and other things that drew people to the vast city of New York. Closing his eyes, Reed thought of his little sister Enid. The last time he had contacted her was before he headed to the Doom space station.

She had become a successful writer and part-time co-manger of a publishing company in Vancouver. The only answer he got was her answering machine saying she was out of town for the weekend. Someplace where televisions and telephones weren't needed. Enid had been a very annoying sister to have for a sibling. Reed managed to tolerate her spoiled-brattiness, constant nagging, unless she was tampering with one of his many unfinished science projects. His parents, Nathaniel (the man whom he acquired his brilliant mind) and Evelyn Richards coddled her due to her acute ability to bring out the worst in him, thus causing him be directly responsible for anything that happened to her. Reed hated it but kept his objections to himself (usually at the advice of Ben). He hadn't seen her so long, he probably wouldn't recognize her if she slapped him.

Rolling over on his back Reed stared up at the ceiling once again, his brown eyes closed gradually the longer he stared into space. He grunted at the sensation of his weight shifting to the right. He opened his eyes turning his head, the sheets on his bed had hand impressions on them. A grin spread across his face as he reached out to touch the _poltergeist's_ hand. The impression remained but not as strong as it was before, she had moved. Reed sat up on his bed his head shifted from side to side puzzled by how fast Sue had moved.

Climbing off the bed he got on his knees, he peered under the bed to see if she had hidden herself there. There was no sign of her. Rising up from the floor Reed brushed his hands against his shirt, completely on alert - "Ouch, Jeez . . . !" Reed jumped forward grabbing his backside. Sue's laughter echoed from the spot he once was standing, the scientist glowered at the invisible woman. "That's not funny Susan," Reed said, using her full name. Sue materialized from her invisible state, her cheeks red from laughing. She wiggled her fingers at him.

"Good morning to you too, Reed," Susan chuckled, closing the space between him. Reed exhaled heavily when Sue wrapped her arms around his neck, stepping on her tip-toes she planted a kiss on his lips. "Johnny still playing pranks?" He asked hugging her. Susan huffed angrily resting her forehead on his chest. "Yes, and quite frankly, I'm tired of them," She grumbled. Reed nodded understandingly, remembering the time his hand had been super glued to his desk by Johnny. He was literally taken by surprise when he tired to get from his chair, awakening from a nap. His hand was sore for weeks.

Their moment was interrupted by an abrupt knock on the door. Sue whined in objection as Reed pulled away from her and headed toward the door, she followed after him. Reed unconsciously checked his hair before answering the door. "Hel . . .," Reed was bombarded a head of golden blonde hair before he could finish his sentence. ". . .lo?" He uttered bewildered. The blonde looked up at him with her large sparklingblue eyes as she released him from her embrace. "Reed, I got your message, how you've been?" She asked. Reed blinked in confusion, his message? Sue came around the corner like a bolt of lightening. Her glasses fell down her nose at the sight of a blonde significantly shorter than Reed and herself (maybe a head shorter than herself) hugging him. "Reed, who is this?" She questioned coming up beside him.

"I-I, don't know," He stammered. The golden blonde stepped back, herblue eyes stared up at him wide with disbelief. Reaching into her shopping bag the woman pulled out a jump rope and twirled it in circle motion, Reed's face paled considerably. "Enid?" He said. Enid hit her brother with the pink jump rope, putting Sue on the defensive. Reed rubbed his arm, his nerves remembered Enid's hit quite well. "Reed, _who is she!_" Susan asked again stepping in front of him. Reed snapped himself back to his senses. "Oh, um, this is my little sister, Enid Richards," He announced nervously. "Enid, this is Susan Storm. She used to be a study buddy of mine back at MIT."

Enid's blue eyes narrowed at Sue then glanced upward at her big brother. "This is that _Susan_ woman you told me about?" Enid inquired. Reed placed his hands on Sue's arms who in turned smiled before returning to her frown. "Yes, it is Enid. _Be nice_," Reed said glaring. "Come in." Sue jaw shifted uncertainly while she let herself be lead away from the door by Reed, she got a bad vibe off Enid. The golden blonde 24-year-old entered the apartment, she tried not to look too amazed by the vastness of the room down the hall. Reed had been keeping himself busy during his absence, wait until she told the folks. Following the couple into the large room, Enid examined large room she stepped into. It was absolutely like something out of a science fiction novel, where did Reed get the money to keep all of this running? "Enid!" The young woman turned to spot her brother on the other side of the room motioning to follow him. Enid followed anxiously after her brother into the living room, which looked normal enough to her relief.

She eyed her brother suspiciously. "Where'd you get the funding for all of this?" Enid asked sitting down on the couch. Reed stuck his hands into his pockets, something he only did when he was nervous. "I was funded by NASA, but they cut the funding as soon as they found out I wanted to go into space during a cosmic storm. The stuff out there is charged to the electric bill," Reed said. Sue gave him a weird look, remembering the unusually large payment on the electric bill last week. Enid nodded slowly, her hand cupped chin as though she were analyzing something. "Uh, huh. Reed what's with the gray hair?" Enid said, her finger twirled around the side of her head.

Reed swallowed, whatever he had to say to his sister was gone from his mind. His eyes wandered the living room nervously looking for an excuse. "Bad nerves," Reed answered weakly. Sue's mouth dropped a bit but she remained silent. Enid was quiet for the longest time before she got up from the couch heading into the kitchen. Sue shot Reed a look, the scientist shifted his gaze to the couch. Enid was relieved that the kitchen was normal, she let out a sigh. Her brother hadn't gone completely _bonkers_. "I've been so out of touch with the real world. How are things in life Reed?" Enid stepped out the kitchen to find her brother and Susan had vanished. "Reed?" Her eyebrow raised in question, where'd they go?

Susan lead Reed out of the living room and towards the bathroom, Reed wanted to curl up in a ball and die. Sue gave him a look that would usually be directed at Johnny when he said something wrong. "What as that about?" She exclaimed. "_Bad nerves_?" Reed lowered his head his lips parted hesitantly, how was he gonna tell her about Enid's Anti-Mutant stance? Sue folded her arms in expectance, she meant to keep Reed where he was until he spoke. "Enid does not like . . . . Mutants," He said quietly. Sue's eyes seemed larger under the magnification of her glasses. Sue had a million things running through her mind at that moment, she hated people like that; They despised mutants out of fear or hatred because they were different. Ever since she had left MIT she had gradually began to hear more about _Mutants_ and what was being done with them.

The Mutant Registration Act was still being mused over and Sue hoped that they reconsidered Jean Gray's plead to reconsider their brash actions. "Reed, you are not a mutant, you are a normal human being with a gift!" Sue hissed. _A very usual gift but a gift nevertheless,_ Sue thought to herself. "I know that, but Enid doesn't see it that way," Reed interjected. "If Enid doesn't see it that way, then she's just a narrow minded as the Senate in Washington!" Reed opened his mouth to object when his eyes looked beyond Sue's angry face spotting Enid just down the hall. "What about Washington and the Senate?" She asked. Enid's bag hung in her hand at her side, swinging slowly to the beat of her arm. Sue followed his line of sight immediately spotting Enid as well. The young woman did not seem to have heard anything the two were discussing. Reed nor Sue wasn't so sure about this though. "Uh, Enid, I've gotta tell you something," Reed stammered.

Enid rocked back on her heels expectantly, Reed looked to Sue who shoved him forward trying not to draw attention to herself. Enid's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, what did that bubble headed blonde think she was doing ordering her brother around in such a manner? Reed ventured down the hall towards his sister, Enid stepped out of the way letting him into the living room. She followed after her brother hastily, her socked feet thumped against the hardwood floor. Reed was briefly reminded of her small feet running out of his bedroom when she wasn't supposed to be inside it.

"I thought that chick dumped you?" Enid whispered harshly, jabbing her thumb towards her brother. She went on recalling his miserable condition after the break-up as though on automatic, did everyone have to remind him of their break-up? Reed scratched the back of his neck irritably. "Enid will you be quiet for one second please? This is important," He said sternly. Enid's mouth clamped shut realizing she had been rambling, her hands intertwined with each other behind her. Reed sighed taking a moment to gather his rattled nerves, Enid's mouth began to twitch, very eager to speak again. Bitting the inside of his mouth Reed spoke. "First off, you have to promise not freak out," He began.

Enid groaned in exasperation, what was he getting at with all this? "Reed will you get to the point-," Enid was cut short by her brother. "Enid you have to promise!" Reed proclaimed angrily, sounding much like a 13-year-old again. Sue peered past the wall of the hall way at the two siblings worriedly, did she hate . . . different people that much? Enid pouted slightly her lip slightly sticking out. ". . . I promise Reed," She said hesitantly, folding her arms across her chest. It was a false sense of security that promise Enid provided him, but Reed had something to hold against her if she ever went back on it (like he knew she would). "Reed!" The scientist's head jerked upward, his brown eyes gazed at his sister who was quickly losing her patience. "Oh, um, right!" He said a bit shakily. It was now or never he told himself, just tell her. "Enid, you remember the message you got from me, right? About going to the Von Doom space station?" Enid nodded briefly, she had only listened to half it before he announced his name on the message.

Enid had left the Richards household to see him shortly thereafter. "Well, I went up there on the agreement of Victor Von Doom to test my theory on cosmic storms on my plants. But there was an accident and we were caught in the storm due to a miscalculation on my part . . . .," Reed fell silent. Enid's mouth fell open; Reed had been telling her all about cosmic storms ever since he was old enough to understand them. He told her all about what they were _capable_ of. Sue wondered when he was going to get to the point of this story. Enid rushed toward her brother, Reed went rigid as Enid examined his body stop to bottom until Reed pushed her away. "You should be dead! How'd you survive?" Enid cried blinking at her brother. "I'm not sure myself, Sue believes that it has fundamentally altered our DNA. It has," He answered.

"Hmm, that's interesting," The sister uttered blankly. Enid seemed to have missed the last part of his sentence as she poked at him with her index finger, Reed's brow creased irritably at this. While he appreciated her concern over his physical health, it was important that she listened to him otherwise she'd react in way he didn't want her to. He turned to Sue for some support, Sue herself looked clueless in way to help him. He stepped back, Reed prayed that Enid would understand. "Enid, throw your bag up," The 24-year-old stared quizzically at her brother. Why would he want her to throw his gifts into the air? Reed nodded his head reassuringly. Sighing, Enid threw the bag up into in a manner that would ensure that the package would stay inside the shopping bag, Reed swallowed back the fear that threatened to overwhelm him and extended his arm upward.

Enid let out a scream when her brother's arm went flying past her face, the color drained from her face when she saw that his hand grabbed the handle of the bag. Reed's arm returned to its normal state falling back to his side, his brown eyes stared expectantly at his sister who was ready to bolt for the door. Sue came out from hiding, Enid stepped back in fear. _Fundamentally altered our DNA. My brother's a freak!_ Silence enveloped the room for the longest time, Reed stared back at his sister, Enid stared blankly back at him as though she were dreaming.

Sue could feel the tension growing between the two, she was almost appreciative that her brother shared her same fate, otherwise she feared he would react the same way Enid was. Enid clasped her hands together nervously. "I'm just, gonna leave now. The folks are probably wondering where I went," She said, her voice wavering. Reed felt eyes stinging at the way his sister looked right through him. She stared at him like a stranger, a freak. "Enid . . . ," Reed's voice was pleading.

Enid turned and dashed out the living room. Reed rushed after her, he caught her just as she was putting on her shoes on. "Enid, wait, please," He said. Enid shook her head quickly, he grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving. "Let go of me, please!" Enid cried out, near tears. Reed felt his arm extending as she tried leave the apartment. "Enid, you promised not to freak out on me!" He said. "I know I did, but that's before I knew you were a freak!" The 24-year-old cried. She began to smack at his at his hand in an attempt to free herself, Reed's wouldn't budge in spite of the stinging that increased with every slap. "I didn't know this was going to happen, please hear me out," Reed tried again. Enid turned to meet her brother's glistening eyes. "No, no! I don't want to hear anymore. Your not my brother Reed, I don't know you!" She shouted frantically.

Her hand collided harshly with his face. Enid gasped slightly at the impression of her hand on his face. Reed released his sister out of shock, the young woman dashed out of the apartment in fear of her life. Ben was exiting the stair way when Enid came running past him, he recognized the young woman immediately. "Hey, Enid, that you?" He called out. Against her better judgement Enid turned in response to the vaguely familiar voice. She almost swallowed her tongue when her gaze fell on the trench coated golem standing a good two feet from her. "It's me, Ben! Ben Grimm, Reed's friend!" The Thing tapped his chest in recognition. Enid's mouth hung open aghast as she stumbled away from the approaching creature.

She took flight once more, vanishing around the corner. Ben scratched his chin in confusion, thinking Enid wouldn't react like Debbie had, especially with the media hounding them. Shrugging, the large man headed down the hall towards their apartment. When Ben entered the apartment, he was greeted by the sound Sue's distressed voice. Growing concerned the man made his way through the living room and down the hall where their bedrooms resided. "Suzie, what's the matter?" Ben inquired. Sue lowered her hand from the door, she had the most distressed expression on her face which only meant something was horribly wrong. "Reed locked himself in his room. His sister came for a visit and got freaked out when she found out about Reed's powers. She sort-of disowned him," Sue explained. Ben's jaw shifted disappointingly, now having answers to his question.

His large fist rapped on the door lightly. "Hey egghead, come outta there. Sue wants to talk ya," Ben said. There was movement inside the bedroom, the pair could hear Reed's feet on the floor moving from place to place. Sue pressed her ear against the door, the only thing that could be heard was the rustling of paper and frequent sighs from the occupant. Ben was quickly losing his patience with his friend. "Egghead if you don't open this door, I'm gonna tear the door off its hinges!" Ben threatened. Sue whacked the man on the arm, trying to intimidate Reed to come out was not the way to go about this situation. Ben raised his fist to the door ready to knock a hole in it, Sue stepped back the moment the door swung open revealing a pacified Reed Richards. Ben lowered his fist in alarm. "Ben, you've got to see this," Reed said, grabbing his friend by the hand. Ben reluctantly followed the scientist into the room with Sue trailing behind him. "Reed are you all right?" She asked tentatively.

Reed only glanced briefly at Sue before nodding his head, he sat on the edge of his bed and opened the shopping bag. Ben and Sue hovered other their comrade puzzled by his behavior, Reed opened the package and struggled to pick up whatever was inside. When he finally got the desired item out of the bag, he hustled past Ben and Sue. With one last push of his strength he placed the machine on his desk. Sue and Ben rushed to his side, they stared at the box shaped object in utter disbelief. Ben vaguely remembered seeing something like this before. "I found this under my bed," Reed declared a bit too proudly.

"What is it?" Sue said dumbly. "It's a project I was working on when I was kid, I thought I had lost it when I moved into the Baxter Building. I'm surprised to find it in this heap of a bedroom," Reed explained. "It was supposed to a machine that would allow me to look into another dimension." Sue shot a glance at Ben who simply shrugged in response, both of them were really wondering if Reed was actually all right. Especially after being disowned by one of your relatives. "I sorta of blew up the first one, and made this one. Never finished it though," Reed said flipping the switch on the right. The trio stepped back when the machine illuminated to life, the antenna made of wire coat hangers (held together by duck tape) on the back crackled with electricity. Reed's eyes became wide with anticipation the stronger the light became. Sue covered her eyes when the light became too blinding to stare at anymore, Ben pulled Reed away from the machine.

The machine rattled, the pressure within it rising. _It's gonna work this time!_ Thought the elated scientist. Reed could practically taste triumph on the tip of his tongue. The machine coughed and sputtered, in a moment of flickering light it then proceeded to expire. "Damn," He whispered reaching over to turn it off. Sue was a bit disappointed herself having forgotten briefly why she was in Reed's bedroom to begin with. Ben shrugged not all intrigued by the machine, he was here only for the well being of his pal. Reed picked the machine up, he moved quickly past his two friends. His destination was the laboratory. "Reed, are you sure your all right?" Susan asked running after him. "Positive, Sue," He lied smoothly. "You better not be lying egghead, it ain't good for your health," Ben insisted. Reed nodded his head absentmindedly placing the machine on the table, he got to work quickly, removing the hanger antenna.

Sue was at his side watching with worried eyes. She looked to Ben who nodded his head, swallowing she readied herself. "Reed," Sue began. She grasped his hand in hers causing him to stop. "I don't want you to work too long. Take a break before lunchtime, huh? Talk to me." Sue squeezed his hand comfortingly, Reed seemed to contemplate on this offer. His eyes met Sue's. "All right," Reed answered quietly. He took his hand from hers resuming his work. Sue was simply glad she got a response from at all, running her hand over his shoulder the blonde headed out of the lab.

"You better keep your word Reed," Ben warned. Reed nodded his head without ever looking up at his friend, Ben lingered on for a while longer then left the lab. When Reed was alone, he let out a shuttering sigh, his eyes clamped shut releasing the tears he had skillfully held back. What were his folks gonna think if they already didn't know? Enid reacted like he thought she would, he was a stranger to her now. What was stopping his parents from acting the same way? Wiping his eyes with the back of his hand Reed busied himself with trying to fix his machine.

* * *

(Westchester, New York):

* * *

Johnny Storm loved to be free, with the wind in his hair. In these kinds of times nothing could bother him, nothing could touch or hold him down if he wanted to fly away from reality. This was one of these times. Johnny grinned like a schoolboy at sensation of two thin toned arms snaked around his not particularly ab-tastic but fit waist. He had let her hair grow back a bit, the dirty blonde spikes of hair flirted with the wind that rushed against his face and glasses. The brunette haired girl behind him squeezed him a bit tighter when he picked up speed on the open road.

His cycle flew past the cars like they were standing still, he made a tight squeeze between two cars which had Pryde hugging him even tighter. He grew hot in the face, though he kept his powers in check. The last thing he wanted to do was set his potential girlfriend on fire because he got _too_ excited! He made a tight turn, and got a squeal of excitement out of Pryde who was tearing up from the mix of fear and joy she got out riding on his motorcycle. They rode for another couple of hours before reaching their desired destination. When he finally stopped, Johnny stared up at the large mansion gates in astonishment. Pryde hopped off the back of the bike, she headed over to the intercom.

Her red nail-polished finger pressed the purple button, the large Victorian ivy designed gate opened slowly. Johnny and Pryde's eyes met, he wondered what kind of family Pryde had to live in such a lavish place like this. "Well, thanks for the ride home _Human Torch_," She said offhandedly. Johnny shrugged like a deputy. "All in day's work ma'am. Please, call me Johnny, all the ladies do," Johnny answered smoothly. Pryde giggled like a school-girl before planted a kiss on the Human's Torch's face, Johnny went red in the face, his eyes began to burn bright orange. "So, when I see you again?" He asked nervously. Kitty Pryde shrugged simply. "When I give you a call, you'll know.

My schedule might be a bit busy for while," Kitty said slyly. Johnny's spirits dropped a bit this response but nodded all the same, Kitty waved good-bye to him as she entered through the gates. Regaining his composure Johnny started up his motorcycle once again and took off down the dirt road, never once noticing the sign under the ivy plants, _Xavier's Home for Gifted Youngsters_. Johnny forced himself to keep his body temperature down as he sped down the road. Oh yeah, he was king.

* * *

Reed had done what Sue had asked him, he took a break from repairing the _Interplanetary Dimension Machine_ as he dubbed it to have lunch with her. He didn't talk much about Enid at all, just other things that were in the back of his mind he had forgotten about until now. Sue didn't mind this at all, Reed talking about anything was enough for her, she didn't want him to regress to a point where he no longer spoke about his feelings to those closest to him. Ben sat around the living room pretending to watch _Murray_ as he listened in on Sue and Reed's conversations.

Not once did Sue bring up Reed's sister during their time together. This slightly annoyed the man but he kept up his act and listened on. When the couple were done with lunch, Reed returned to the lab to continue his work on the machine. Sue wondered what to do with her free time and suggested a game of _Life_ for time to Ben, the Golem respectfully declined since he couldn't grip the small pieces. "How about a game of Jumbo cards? _Go-fish_?_ Old maid_?" Sue insisted. Ben hesitantly agreed to her idea. Reed was thankful they found something to do while he was busy with the I.D.M.

Scratching the back of his neck he fixed put his goggles back onto his nose and focused on the problem at hand. He had isolated the problem with his machine, all of it was internal. There were several wires in the wrong place, other wires were worn from time and other things that were sure to give him a headache later on. Reed slowly began to wonder how long he had stayed up when he was making this thing. Setting on the table across from him was the bag Enid had been carrying around, he hadn't looked inside yet to find out what it was. Probably something left over from her 'secret Santa parties when she was a teenager of 14 and he was almost an full-grown adult. Occasionally his tired eyes would find themselves wandering to the green shopping bag. Ugh, he needed to be working not wondering what was in the bag!

After another half hour of being distracted, Reed finally got up to inspect what was inside the bag. Surprisingly it wasn't a 'secret santa' gift, yet several crudely drawn pictures from Enid herself from childhood, a worn baseball from his father, and a mini-pie from his mother. The last thing he found was a picture frame containing his entire family that lived at their home in California. His brow creased considerably at the memory no having the strength to call it fond. Exhaling heavily he shoved everything back into the bag and resumed his work.

* * *

Johnny had returned to the Baxter Building in a reasonably good mood much to Sue's dismay, the wheels in her head began to turn wildly. He waved to his sister briefly, having obviously forgotten about his little trick from this morning. Johnny was much to occupied to be bothered about his sister at the moment, his mind was still scatterbrained from his entire morning with Kitty Pryde. Grabbing the remote off the table Sue and Ben was situated at, Johnny hopped onto the couch and turned the television on. The young man grunted in disgust at the sight of _Access Hollywood_, he was quick to change the channel.

His destination was ultimately the Direct TV Pay Per View channels. Sue watched him over her cards, her mind was simply conjuring up ways of making him pay. "Hey, Sue, it's your move," Ben snapped the woman back to reality. "Sorry," She said distractedly pulling a card from the pile on the table. Ben watched her with weary eyes, they had been playing Go-fish for God knows how long and Ben won every time. Sue refused to give up, thus resulting in the game being played over ten times. Sue still lost, Ben was beginning to get the feeling it was on purpose.

"All right Suzie, I'm foldin'. You win by default," He said tiredly. Susan looked genuinely disappointed, though in truth she couldn't blame the man for wanting to quit. Nodding her head she collected the cards from off the table then proceeded to place them back into the large brown chest located near the kitchen door frame. Ben shifted his rocky joints to relieve the pain he felt from sitting in one place for far too long, his mind began to wander to Alicia Masters. He had been meaning to give her a call all day, his eyes shifted left to right. With a mighty leap from his custom-made chair, Ben headed to his bedroom to use his 'custom made phone.'

When Sue returned she was greeted by no one save Johnny who wasn't really looking at her, but the television. Rubbing the back of her neck, she looked towards the lab with sorrowful eyes. Reed had been cooped up inside that room for hours since they had lunch, at this rate he would fall asleep on his machine. Why did Enid have to respond in such a way, it was her brother for cripes sake, not some freak with ill intentions toward her! The changes to their bodies weren't even their fault, but Enid didn't seem to care about this large detail at all. Sue was almost wishing Reed, the others along with herself hadn't gone into space. Maybe then Enid would still be in this apartment, laughing with her brother and burning holes into her with her glares. Sue shook her head at the thought. Maybe she was just tired from all the worrying over -

There was a dull, though considerably loud screech over the speakers of the television. Johnny erupted in a burst of flames and fired in the direction of the noise. The television was obliterated in an instant, the explosion contained by Sue's shield. "Johnny, you idiot!" She cried angrily. Johnny powered down, wisps of smoke rising from his charred clothing, parts of his leather jacket stuck to his bare arms like duct tape. "It was reflex, I didn't mean to do it!" Johnny blurted. Sue prepared to counter her brother's excuse when the lights dimmed considerably to the condition of a rotting jail cell, Johnny and Susan shot each other looks of disdain. Ben came thundering out the room at top speed causing many picture frames to fall to from the mantle place onto the ground, shattering on impact. "Could you be any louder?" Johnny retorted looking down on the fallen pictures. Ben ignored the younger man's comment and went straight to why he left Alicia on hold.

"What's goin' on?" He shouted. "I have no idea," Susan said. "I bet its Reed," Johnny said casually, in an almost childish way. Sue and Ben shot each other concerned glances. Johnny opened his mouth to say something else, then paused in that instant. "Where is the egghead anyway? He didn't even come to greet me!" Before either comrade could answer the light bulbs burst releasing a surge of sparks and unnatural electricity overhead, all three of the Fantastic Four ducked on instinct. What in the name of all that was good on this earth was going on?

"Whoa, tilt!" Johnny cried, the moment the floor seemed to give way underneath him. Susan grabbed hold of the arm of the couch for security, the floor was caving in! Ben fell flat on his back when he tried to grab the side of the wall, this was not a natural occurrence. The hardwood twisted in a lolly pop design, the electricity quickly traveled down the wall into the pug sockets. They shorted out causing more electricity to arise, Susan impulsively placed shields around herself, her brother and Ben.

* * *

Finally, after hours of eye strain and hunching forward in his chair, Reed was finished with the I.D.M.! Allowing himself to stretch his limbs, Reed's half-closed eyes stared upon his childhood invention with parent like pride. That would show his family that he could finish something if he put his mind to it, Reed swallowed a momentary spike of pain. There was no point in thinking about a family that disowned you if you were . . . mutant. Running his hands through his hair Reed checked over everything he had recently repaired, it all seemed to be in correct order. Reed pushed his goggles over his head taking a moment to adjust to the bright light of his table lamp since the natural sunlight was no longer there to balance out the harsh light of the lamp.

On the table resided a gray stone which had been inside the I.D.M., he replaced with a new prism he had bought recently. He pushed the lamp up a bit, peering through the table magnifying glass Reed noticed a problem with one the wires closest to the switch. Without question he reached in to place it back in the socket it had fallen out, his back was aching like there were knives stuck in it. His hands shook with the fear of mistake, Reed swallowed roughly as his fingers gripped the yellow wire: One mistake and he could end up frying the switch mechanism to nothing.

The yellow wire slipped easily back into its place, Reed gave it a slight tug and it did not move again, the man smiled. Reed's hands moved out the small compartment, he closed the slide back door on the right side with a heavy sigh. He looked toward the dingy window, the night was quickly overtaking what little daylight remained. It was time to leave the lab, though first he had to test the I.D.M. out. Reed reached over and flipped the switch; The machine hummed to life, interior lights and all. Reed could feel a catch in his breath as he waited for the end result of his labor.

Outside the lab Reed could hear the faint voices of Sue, and the television playing still. He grinned in amusement wondering how long it had been since Ben finally gave up against Sue's persistence to continue playing Go-Fish. A spark shot out from the new antenna causing Reed to jump from his stool. A high-pitched sound emitted from the machine, electricity was crackling over the entire I.D.M., Reed's hands were quick to clamp over his ears. Okay, so it wasn't working the way he wanted it to, that was a bummer. Reed removed one hand from his ear and reached out the switch, the electricity seemed to navigate to his fingers.

Reed pressed his fingers against the switch and got a prompt shock up the arm, a cry of pain escaped his lips. It was over powered by another high-pitched frequency. Reed managed to get the switch half way to the off position before the electrical current though it fit to shock his entire body. Though he knew it was impossible, unless it was from the very finger tips of Victor Van Doom himself, for electricity to act as though it had a mind of its own. _Maybe_. Reed's body grew rigid as the current of electricity charged through his body as though it were a battery, meant store its energy, he felt his eyes open to their limit. One of last burst of energy the machine let out an electrical charge throughout the room releasing Reed from its grasp.

The scientist fell to his knees trembling, his mind was in a state of shock as he fell forward against the wall of the lab desk. None of his motor skills were in working order, he felt the floor was crumbling under him. Sounds of his machine destroying itself drifted in and out along with his hearing, Reed fell on his side, his body burned from the inside and out. A spectacle of colored lights enveloped the entire room as he drifted into unconsciousness. A moment later the light vanished, taking Reed with it.

* * *

Johnny opened his eyes with a whimper, what had just happened? Susan lowered her shields from her brother and Ben when she assumed the danger was now over, where had all that come form? She wondered. The living room appliances were in a great shambles: Light fixtures, to the kitchen hardware was destroyed, still crackling with electricity. There were, surprisingly not burns marks anywhere on the hardwood floors or walls nor ceilings, it was just the hardware that was affected by the strange phenomena. Sue's heart throbbed wildly in her chest as she looked toward the path that lead to the laboratory. Reed! She had totally forgotten about Reed!

Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, though only Johnny rose from the floor and headed out the living room towards the lab. Sue and Ben followed after the young man, hot on his trail. "Does anyone know where that came from?" Johnny shouted over his shoulder. "I might have an idea," Ben grumbled in dismay. The egghead had probably caused a major blow in his machine that somehow or another caused everything electrical to react in the same exact way, in theory. When the trio entered the laboratory nothing besides the lab counter was destroyed or burned, Sue frantically made her way through the lab in search of Reed and his machine. "Uh, I'm confused," Johnny said breaking the silence. "Why isn't anything in here messed up like it is out there?" His thumb bumped Ben's shoulder causing him to cry out in momentary pain.

Ben shot him a pity glare. "Where's Reed?" Susan cried out, unable to hide her worry any longer. "Huh, you mean he's not here?" Johnny inquired walking toward her. "If he was, I wouldn't be asking that question!" Sue shouted at her brother. Ben's face contorted slightly in alarm when Sue vanished from her clothing. Johnny tried not to think about the bridge incident.

* * *

(TBC)

**Author's note: **Let me know how you like it. I'm pretty much done with the story already, I just need to do some finishing touches. - Sakura123


	2. Part II:  Myotis

**Authors note: **Constructive Criticism please. 'II' denotes a character of the same name & 'Negative' denotes a alternate double of the same name. The description of Reed's apartment might be a bit off too. Thank you in advance for the positive reviews. Originally this was one long ONE-SHOT, but it has been split into several chapters so never mind the rushed feeling in this one, the later are much lengthier. And on a last note, the Negative Zone will appear, but much later on into the story: I.E., the possible next chapter.

* * *

**Part II: Myotis**

* * *

"Okay, Sue calm down," Johnny coaxed inching away from his sister. "We'll find him, don't worry about." Susan reappeared from her invisible state, Ben sighed inwardly his blue eyes shifting from place to place. They stood in the only area that Reed could've gone through to disappear, though somehow he had vanished by some other means. A flickering of light through the window caught Ben's eye, scratching his chin Ben ventured towards the stairs that would lead him to the walk way above the laboratory. An eerie sound of metal creaking under pressure caught the ear of Johnny.

The young man tilted his head upward in question. "What is it?" Sue asked, her eyes following her brothers curious body language. Ben shrugged his shoulders unsure of what it was he was seeing, bringing back his fist Ben knocked the glass out of the window frame. A gust of wind hit his stone body like a punch would've if he were still flesh, he stared up at the sky in astonishment. "What do you see, Ben?" Susan asked. Ben had no time to answer the woman below, quicker than the blink of an eye the sky was flooded with a great white light, blinding all within its rage. Ben was knocked down by a incredibly fierce force that him square in the chest, it bounced off him and landed two feet away behind Susan and Johnny.

Sue raised her shields around her brother and herself, the electricity bounced off her shields onto the floor, the light flickered violently for another minute before it diminished into nothing leaving behind two bodies that laid on top of each other. "Ben, you all right?" Johnny asked uncertainly. Ben climbed to his feet with little help from the railing of the walk way that was bending under his weight, he nodded to the man below. Smoke rose from Ben's chest where had been hit, he was otherwise, fine. Johnny exhaled unable to believe how hard his heart was beating at that moment, they had almost been electrocuted. Sue ventured over to the fallen bodies, her eyes blinked wearily at the recognizable body below the mess of bustle of fabric that was not tightly wrapped around the unnaturally thin frame, and bright orange hair that stuck out in every direction, defying gravity.

Underneath the thin frame was the very person Sue had ached to see. _Reed!_ Sue reached past the 'woman' atop of Reed to shake the seemingly unconscious man awake, her fingers grasped his visible arm lightly. The reaction from Reed's still body was a moan, Sue exhaled gratefully. Reed's eyes fluttered open, revealing not brown eyes that Sue had come to know, but a pair of white orbs staring up at him. Sue felt her breath catch in her throat, she took a moment to catch her breath, opening her eyes she stared back at Reed. Instead of white orbs, his brown eyes reappeared. "Sue," He drawled dreamily. "It _worked_ . ." Before she could answer Reed's eye-lids fell back over his eyes, his head fell back to the ground.

Her fingers pressed against his neck, a pulse throbbed strong under her finger tips, He was all right. Now to remove the woman, with a grunt Susan gripped the woman's arm. Without warning the fallen woman's fist collided with Sue's face knocking her onto her back, Ben was quick to make his way down off the walkway above, hoisting himself over the bent railing the giant landed on the ground with a thunderous boom. Johnny went stumbling out of The Thing's path as he marched toward his fallen friends. The orange haired being was sent stumbling over Reed in her frantic escape, Sue was helped off the ground by her brother who watched the skinny woman proceed behind the desk.

Her arms and legs extended in front of her, siding across the floor on her behind with only her hands and feet to propel her backward. "Suzie, are you all right?" Ben huffed stepping in front of his friends. Sue wasn't sure how to answer Ben's question, her eyes remained fixated on the unmoving body of Reed. Something was defiantly not right with any of this, Sue thought glancing at the woman peering at them behind the counter.

Shaking her head she removed herself from her brother's grasp to join Ben at his side. "I don't know. Grab Reed, put him in his bed," Sue said, taking the initiative. "Johnny, you stay here with me." The two men did as they were told, Ben gathered the unconscious man up in his arms, proceeding out of the lab. Johnny made himself comfortable on one of the office chairs behind him, Sue kept watch on the woman that continued to peer out from behind the counter at her with large onyx eyes.

* * *

It was around 5:00 when Reed finally aroused from his slumber. His eyes wandered the orange sunlit room, he pushed himself up into a sitting position his head spun with the familiar dizziness. His gaze shifted to a familiar Golem figure. Ben rested against the wall on the floor, his arms barely folded across his chest. What had happened after he tried to turn the machine off? Reed searched his mind for answers. Surges of electricity flowing through him and the bright light before darkness was all that came to him. A sort of boyish excitement rushed through him: Had he actually traveled to another dimension?

Reed flexed his gloved fingers, he winced at the burning underneath the thick leather. Hastily he yanked the glove off to reveal left his hand that sustained second degree burns on its palm and back. Removing the right glove, Reed almost choked on his tongue at the sight of his untouched hand. Something was not right here. Barely giving himself time to recover from his unconscious state, Reed flung his white lab coat onto the bed, kicked his boots off (both feet were untouched like his right hand) and was quick to make his way down the hall into the bathroom.

Reed slammed the door behind him. Locking it, he began to undress himself. The suit came off without problems erasing fears of burns on his entire body, Reed stared wearily at himself in the mirror. He looked like he had missed several hours of sleep at least. His face was sagging, his hair was falling out of place from its neat and orderly position to make things worse. This was all something that be taken care of. Concentrating Reed pulled his sagging face back into its original position, he smiled in triumph at the firm skin of his bony face.

Even so, he was surprised that the hair that been whitened did not move a bit from it original place oddly enough. Reed's brow creased worriedly at this, he ran his hands through his hair, the gray hair fell out place right away. After a while he started to make faces at the mirror, to relieve the stress twisting knots in his stomach. Reed couldn't help but laugh himself when his tongue extended beyond its original length and touched the tip of his nose. Looking down at his burned hand he noticed that most of the scars were beginning to fade away. Reed assumed his body was healing itself at a much faster rate than he had been for the last several weeks. He pawed the injured hand cautiously.

* * *

Ben was shaken out of his sleep by the slamming of the bathroom door, his blue eyes turned to check on Reed . The scientist was nowhere to be found. "Sue's gonna kill me," He grumbled rising climbing off the ground. Ben's brow crinkled at the lab coat and boots thrown aside, if he didn't have good sense he would've thought Reed had been vaporized to moon dust. Leaving nothing behind but his jacket and boots. His non-existent ears perked up when Sue and Johnny's voice could be heard from laboratory, strained and obviously angered. Ben made his way down the hall quickly, as he was approached the door frame that lead into the living room, a barely visible substance made its way out of the lab.

Johnny stumbled out into living room with a dazed look on his face, Sue was quick to follow her weakened brother. Ben caught notice of another offensive shield forming around the blonde woman and was quick to put a stop to anymore violence. "Sue!" He cried, causing the woman to turn in his direction. Her shield was in a momentary halt, the shimmering glow growing stronger by the minute. "As much as I like seeing, twinkle toes get his, ain't you supposed to be watching that kid in there?" Ben stated. Sue's shield vanished in that instant though she did not return to the lab right away, Johnny got back onto his feet appearance unfazed by the event which unfolded around him.

"She started it," Johnny pointed. "I don't care who started it, go back in there and watch that kid," Ben snapped irritably. Both Storm's were quick to make their way out of the living room towards the lab. Ben shook his head tiredly. It was like living with a bunch of children sometimes with those two. He was pretty sure Reed and Sue said the same thing about himself and Johnny when they got into arguments. Ben ventured down the hall until he reached the bathroom door. His large fist rapped against the door lightly.

"Hey, Reed, youse all right in there?" Ben asked. There was a lingering silence after his question, Ben began to wonder if Reed was actually still in there. "Uh, yeah Ben. I'm fine," The answer came out with frequent pauses. Ben's brow wrinkled in concern. "Are you sure?" He inquired. "Yes, Ben," Reed felt as though he was suffering from a bad case of vertigo as he stared into the mirror that was steadily changing colors through his dizziness. He was not a fine as originally thought, the nausea had just started up.

He grabbed a hold of the sink for balance, the memory of the pain he felt in the lab returned to him all to soon. Moving slowly away from the sink, Reed climbed into the shower. "Well . . . you'd better come outta there soon, Johnny and Sue are at it again," Ben grumbled. "When _aren't_ they?" Reed mumbled, then said, "I'll be out soon." Ben left the hall heading to the kitchen for something to eat, his stomach was beginning to chastise him for not taking Reed's offer for making waffles. Reed was out of the bathroom sooner than Ben originally thought, the scientist was quick to thrown on a fresh pair of clothing over his suit. He stuffed his gloves into his pants pocket and reentered the living room with a sigh.

Ben nodded in his friend's direction when he came out of the kitchen, he noted that the man before him looked a lot better than he was previously. "Where are they? Johnny and Sue?" Reed said. "In the lab watching your new pet," Ben joked dryly. In natural Reed style the younger man's brow creased with confusion and his lips thinned upon being pressed together. His new pet? Slowly Ben realized that Reed was unaware of whatever he brought back with him, rolling his blue eyes he gestured to the man to follow. Reed made haste in following Ben, when the two arrived in the lab they found Johnny and Sue sitting on the desk where I.D.M. had been. Reed found no signs of the _pet_ Ben mentioned. Sue leapt from the counter running past her brother toward Reed, she enveloped him the tightest hug her arms could muster.

Reed smiled, the color of his cheeks deepening to a crimson color, he could feel his body modifying itself to the pressure being applied to it. When Sue stepped back she began to behave in manner much like Enid had. "Reed, what happened?" Sue finally said. Reed shook his head and gave everyone an account on what he could remember before he blacked out. Everyone lapsed into silence afterward leaving Reed with a uncomfortable feeling. "Were you hurt?" Sue interjected, breaking the silence. Reed felt himself pause then shake his head, Sue's eyes narrowed at his body language. Her blue eyes ventured downward, noticing how much Reed was favoring his left hand. Instead of pressing the issue, she glanced up at him with her best disarming smile. "Well if remember otherwise, let me know. I did major in Biochemistry, you know," Sue said punching his arm playfully.

Reed seemed to missed the cryptic message she sending him, his cheeks went red in an instant. He looked away abashed never noticing Sue's shock. Johnny pondered thoughtfully on the figure hiding behind the counter still. "Hey, Reed, what about that chick?" Johnny said, wagging his eyebrows. Reed met the young man's face with more confusion. "Johnny, what _chick_ are you talking about" Reed said, almost indignantly. Johnny climbed off the counter, he was quick to make his way around the counter. In mere minutes the fearful figure scampered out its hiding place. Reed watched the so-called chick duck behind his desk, awed by what he had just seen. Without a second thought Reed surged toward his desk, he bent downward to get a better look at the _chick_.

It jumped back in surprise from the abrupt movement of the scientist. The spiked bright orange hair, youthful features were enough to fool Johnny to believe it was girl. Its frame was thin, perhaps too thin. But given the size and body mass of the _chick,_ it certainly was male. Reed felt his heart skip a beat when their eyes met, the boy leaned forward curiously his head cocked to the side. Sue, Johnny, and Ben joined Reed's side with curiosity. "That's the chick I'm talking about," Johnny whispered pointing. "Its' not girl, Johnny," Reed grumbled, his head turning slightly. Johnny, Sue, and Ben gave each other odd looks, their eyes focused on the cowering human: It looked very much like a young girl to them.

Reed must've gotten fried worse then they thought. Sue decided to take the initiative, squeezing in-between her brother and Reed she poked her head under the desk. The boy leaned back cautiously, Sue plastered a disarming smile on her face. "What's your name? Can you understand us?" She asked. The boy's head moved like a bird at the question, his onyx eyes blinked slowly in response. His shook his head for minute hunching his shoulders. He appeared or they assumed he understood the English language judging by his body language.

The foursome's faces brightened when the _boy_ looked up finally, they leaned in anticipation. The boy's finger jabbed Reed's chest with twice, Reed to say the least was offended but said nothing. "Her name is Hart?" Johnny asked. Ben was careful to restrain his strength when he shoved Johnny to the side, the young man stumbled away from the group as he tried to keep his footing.

"No dingus, her- his name is Reed, I think," Sue spoke haughtily. The bright orange haired boy nodded his head in Sue's direction with appreciative smile, the woman nodded back at him. Johnny scoffed with a scowl on his face, like he was supposed to know that the kid's name was the same as Reed's. The team stepped back to let the boy climb out from under Reed's desk, he was lanky and thin, his arms looked too long for his body. He stood two heads shorter than Johnny. Sue realized the white fabric that had been covering the important parts of his body down to his legs were a poor imitation of male clothing.

His face seemed unnaturally developed as well, bordering adulthood, like it wasn't his own. The boy's large onyx eyes darted from place to place like a cat's, he fidgeted under their gaze like a normal teenage boy conduct. "So your name is Reed?" Johnny double checked. The boy shrugged then nodded. Ben scratched his bald head in dismay, the child seemed to be in a state of confusion as to what his name was. Either that or he was deliberately trying to confuse them.

They all stood in a uncomfortable silence for the longest time, none of them were sure as to how to communicate with the boy though it was obvious he understood what they were saying to him. After a while Reed broke the silence. "If he's from another dimension, then I'm pretty sure somebody's noticed his absence," Reed said excitedly. "Whadya mean _if?_ You came down riding a bolt lightening like Zeus with that kid, of course he's from another dimension," Ben interjected sarcastically.

Reed couldn't argue with his friend's comment. "Well, while he's here don't you think we could learn something some him?" Sue implied. "I mean if he really is from someplace, he could help us improve our technology in ways we never. . ..," The youngest of the group had stopped listening. Johnny rubbed his temples in aggravation; He seriously had to leave this place before his brain was too overwhelmed with scientific mumbo-jumbo. While the others were occupied with handling freakazoid, the Human Torch was quick to make his way out of the laboratory. His socks made his footfalls soundless, his movement through the apartment was easier than he would've imagined. Grabbing his sneakers he discarded his melted leather jacket.

The weather was too harsh outside, he could to without a jacket for a while. His feet slipped into his untied sneakers easily, running his tongue over lower lip the young man made his way down the hall. So far so good, no one missed him ye- "Johnny, get back here!" Sue's booming voice stopped Johnny in his tracks. _Your not the boss of me,_ Johnny thought wickedly grasping the door knob. There was no telling if Sue was still in the room with Reed and Ben, opening the door he rushed forward in one last ditch effort to escape the apartment.

Instead of the greeting of hallway, Johnny's chin collided with an all too familiar force. Johnny fell to the ground around the same time triumphant laughter rang through his ears. _Sue,_ he thought angrily rising to his feet. Sue appeared beside him with a smug look on her face, her arms folded across her chest in a formidable manner. "I got you back," She said in a sing-song voice. At first Johnny was in the dark as to what she meant by _got you back, _until events of the early morning came rushing back to him. Johnny rubbed his chin in annoyance, what did Sue have against his leaving the apartment.

"Leave me alone, Sue, I wanna got out," He interjected, ignoring her comment. Sue's jaw shifted cockily, her large blue eyes under her small framed glasses glistened with regained pride and vigor. "Well you can't, not until we figure this situation out," Sue said. Johnny's mouth fell open in aghast at the statement, was she not in her right mind.

"Figure out what? Reed travels to another dimension, picked a kid up, and lost some more of his good sense along the way. What is there figure out?" Johnny snapped. Sue smacked her brother on the arm in her reach, his eyes flared red in annoyance. "We have to figure out where the machine went, it didn't come back with him," Sue quipped. Johnny's angry face was replaced with a unbiased one, patting his sister on the shoulder Johnny headed through the door. "Johnny, get back here! We have to find that machine!" She shouted down the hall after the boy. "That's your job sis! I'll see you later!" Johnny answered vanishing around the corner. Sue let out a aggravated huff reentering the apartment, she stormed down the hall in the living room where Reed, Ben, and the boy awaited her. "Where's twinkle toes?" Ben asked. "Out again," Sue replied tiredly.

"We'll leave him alone until he comes back," Reed said, pacing the room. Sue's lip curled inwardly in frustration but complied to her friend's wishes. "So . . . what are we gonna do, fearless leader?" Ben asked. _Fearless? You can hardly me fearless Ben. Exact opposite in fact._ Reed rambled mentally. He scratched the back of his mildly burned hand as he watched the two people in front of him. His brain felt like it was still scrambled, but he had do something other than stare into space. "First, I have to locate the I.D.M.," He mumbled. Reed headed back to the laboratory. There was no apparent danger with the boy being here, Reed felt that there was no cause for concern.

However, with the I.D.M. absent from his lab, the scientific, sometimes irrational side of him wondered what the effect would be with that thing still activated. Reed jumped into the office chair, with a push of his feet the chair moved smoothly across the floor to his computer. The screen saver vanished when he moved the mouse, displaying on the desktop was a plain wallpaper displaying several planets in the solar system.

Clicking on a icon shaped like Saturn Reed listened to the computer noise before the window finally appeared. During the time he was inside his lab repairing the I.D.M., he had installed one of the tracking devices he had 'borrowed' from NASA when they gave him the boot. Ben had chided him for stealing but at the time Reed was feeling seriously wronged and stealing (though against his moral code) a state of the art tracking chip was no wrong doing in his mind. To an extent it still wasn't, though he was beginning to feel the guilt that had been numbed by his anger. Typing his password into the box, Reed watched as the window opened to his own state of the art tracking system, that allowed him access to several of the satellite hovering in outer space. How easily surpassed the government system is, he thought with a chortle.

* * *

**Label: I.D.M. (Interplanetary Dimension Machine)**

**ID: #144055910**

**Current Position: Unavailable (out of range?)**

**Status: Off?**

**Energy Level: Below normal (recharge soon)**

* * *

A brief sigh of relief ran through Reed, his finger tapped against his chin rhythmically. This didn't tell him much aside from what he already knew or suspected. Running his hands through his hair Reed rose from the chair and began to pace across the floor. What was he going to do if he couldn't even pin point the exact location of the I.D.M., there was no telling what happened after he attempted to shut the machine down. The thought of traveling to another dimension thrilled Reed to no end and yet he had barely been aware to experience a childhood dream become realized. That is where his dread tugged at his excitement. If he had actually traveled through another dimension, there were a number of possibilities that could've occurred during this travel. The machine did not return with him to the Baxter Building, that was one certainty.

The other was that there was a major possibility that it was on, off, or between both. If so it could be causing major damage to the space-time continuum. Reed ran his finger worriedly across his eyebrow, his mind was choking on the idea that he would responsible for any kind of damage to the universal structure of the time continuum, his eyes ventured downward to stare at his burned hand; It seemed to be healing nicely.

Bringing his hand up from his side Reed turned his hand around, the skin was peeling away. Reed brushed his thumb against his palm, the skin flaked away like dry wallpaper. Reed repeated this motion three more times, the skin flaked away from his palm fluttering lifelessly to the ground. Reed stared closely at his palm in concern; A hitch in his breath formed when he noticed something irregular. Instead of raw unhealed skin there was nothing, he could see the floor he stood on through the small patch of missing skin. "Reed? Did you find your I.D.M.?" Sue's voice rang clear and true in the scientists ears. Reed his arm tense up as he pulled out one of his gloves out of his pants pocket, he pulled the black glove over his hand as Sue entered the laboratory with Ben and the boy. He took a moment to get himself together before he answered Sue.

"Uh, no. It's out of range," He answered stepping over the small flakes of skin on the ground. "Are there any dangers to that machine being unattended? Assuming its' still on?" Sue asked, her hair falling inher face. Reed shoved his hands into his pockets, his teeth bit down on his lip. "In theory, if the I.D.M. did transport me to another dimension, and its still on, there's a sure chance its bound to some kind of damage with the rift its created between this world and wherever it took me," Reed explained. "So in other words, we need to find it before something actually does happen?" Sue said quickly. Reed was slightly taken aback by her bluntness, he nodded. Reed moved over to his Bio-scanner. Sue joined him at his side, her hand brushed against his left arm affectionately.

Reed felt his face burning once more, everything was all right between them. There was not a plausible excuse left to hide behind anymore. The boy instinctively leap onto the chair before either of the tiro could order him to do so, Sue gave him a wary glance, his almost naked appearance was unnerving. "Ben, do you think you could . . . get him so clothes?" She asked. Ben scoffed in reply. "Why can't you do it? Your not doing anything," Ben said bluntly. Sue's blue eyes blinked rapidly at her orange friend. "Do you know how to operate this machine, Ben?" Sue inquired slyly. Ben folded his arms across his chest with a scowl, what did she take him for? An idiot?

He worked with Reed on his projects longer than she did, of course he knew how to operate that infernal scanner. "Yeah, yeah I do _Susan_, in case you forgot," Ben replied hotly. "But since I figure I'm just the _muscle_ around here, I'll go and get the clothes for scarecrow here." The boy turned his head in acknowledgment. Reed looked up from the keyboard on the scanner with bothered expression. "Ben, she didn't mean it like that," He called after his disgruntled friend. Ben raised his hand in objection.

"Quit sticking up for her, egghead," Ben answered vanishing from sight. Reed's brow creased in dismay then shot a look at Susan who was actually looking a bit guilty for what she said to Ben. Without a word said to her former boyfriend Sue reached up and pulled the scanner mirror down in front of the boy, she was surprised to say the least that the boy showed signs of normal vitals, with the exception of irregular heart rate. Reed peered at the x-ray in curiosity.

"Vitals are normal; I can't find anything out of the ordinary in the skeletal or organ system," He murmured quietly to himself. "Stats are coming up," Sue announced resting her chin on Reed's right shoulder. Reed pulled away from the x-ray and focused his attention on the computer screen as it loaded the vital stats onto the screen. Ben returned from pillaging Johnny's already unkempt dresser, in his large hands resided a red T-shirt and a pair of cargo pants.

He handed the items to the boy, the child looked them over briefly then examined the two men in the room for a minute. Ben's brow made a wave motion of sorts as he watched the boy get up from the stool and run into a hidden corner of the room. Apparently he figured out he was supposed to put them on, Ben hopped he put the clothing on himself correctly at least. "Find anything interesting, egghead?" He said. Reed nodded never taking his eyes away from the computer screen. "Yeah, um, the boy . . . I mean, Reed's molecular structure is pretty much the same as ours, the same goes with his organ structure.

The only difference is that his heart rate a faster than ours, he doesn't use oxygen to breathe, he has no vocal chords and is . . . telekinetic . . .," Reed trailed off. Ben blinked, he glanced down at the computer screen and x-ray then back up at his friend. "You figured this out all by looking at this?" Ben said, unconvinced. Reed's hand removed themselves from his lap in a careless motion. "Most of it," Reed said vacantly.

Ben's brow crinkled, he turned to find out what the scientist was gazing up at with wide eyes. Above them the boy hovered above them with his belly facing the floor, his toes and fingers touched the ceiling, barely missing the track lights above. Sue's glasses slid down her nose when her mouth fell open. The boy was dressed her brother's red muscle shirt which fit nicely on his thin body, the cargo pants fit far too loosely on the young man's waist, giving him the added lazy 'teen' appearance. He looked down on them with his onyx gaze which glowed blue in the track light.

He waved to them as he turned himself up right in mid-air and descended to the floor. His feet touched the ground, various items in the lab shuddered as if the air was being pushed against them. When everything settled the boy's pants sagged on the right revealing his bony waist, he instinctively reached down and pulled them up again. "We either fatten this kid up, or get him a belt," Ben said jokingly. Sue noted that Reed seemed to be actually considering Ben's words, she rolled her eyes and nudged him lightly in the back. Reed craned his neck back to look at his female companion in question "He was joking Reed," She stated with a uneasy smile. Reed nodded his head quickly before returning his attention back to the computer screen, trying to ignore the increasing tingle in his left hand.

* * *

In the passing months Reed and the others quickly gained a new ally of sorts. At first Reed II was not allowed nor wished to wander outside of the Baxter Building. He remained inside their large apartment reading Reed's vast library of science text books, Sue's romance novels, Ben's westerns and Johnny's magazines. Reed continued to perform tests on the young man whenever he could. If he wasn't doing that, the others noticed he devoted all of his time times searching for the I.D.M., thinking of other energy sources for his machine to use on Ben. Reed was becoming more and more distressed by the slow deterioration of his vanishing hand.

The seemingly unknown phenomena of peeling skin had spread up his arm, nearly to his chest. He found himself wearing his gloves and keeping his sleeves down more often then he liked, this especially aroused suspicion in his comrades (most notably Ben and Sue). Reed II helped the Fantastic Four whenever they happened to show up in the middle of danger or robberies during their routine shopping trips or simple walks around New York City. Reed II was disgruntled at the fact he was left holding their baggage since he could not could control his energies as well as they would like. Sue was appointed to help develop Reed II's telepathic powers (which helped her keep hers up to an extent), Ben and Johnny were appointed watchmen when Reed was too busy and combat trainers for the young man.

Reed locked himself up in his lab for hours on end, to the point where the others would not see him until the next day. He only came out of the lab to eat and accidentally ended up sleeping on the couch for two and half days straight by the order of Sue. Reed awoke on the third day feeling hungry, yet nonetheless refreshed to Sue's delight. Reed day after his long slumber was fated to get worse when he received a call from his baby sister, Libby who was quick to explain that she had no qualms against his being a mutant, but Enid had no plans to speak to him ever again. His parents took the news the same as Libby and did not hold his change against him.

That was his only shred of good news from the remaining week then, he proceeded to bury himself in his work again. Johnny was in and out of the house most of the time, Ben began to suspect that the youngest of their group was seeing a lady-friend and was reluctant to tell them because what they would think. Sue agreed partly with what her friend suspected, ultimately deeming Johnny's line of thinking irrational and illogical. Reed II would spend his time with Reed in spite of the man's tendency to ignore him unless focused on another physical test.

Their days continued in a routine type manner as the early months passed by drawing nearer to the end of spring. Reed was no closer to completing any of his goals and his condition was only worsening. Spasms of pain that reminded all too much of his electrocution would now occur frequently, they became harder to hide when they struck him at inappropriate times.

If this kept up someone was going to notice.

* * *

**(TBC)**


	3. Part III: Tadarida

**Part III: Tadarida**

* * *

Reed awakened to the darkness of the laboratory. The only light shining in the room was the table lamp next to his computer. Drool plagued the side of his mouth and the imprint of his keyboard was quickly starting to fade from his face. How long had he been asleep and why didn't anyone bother to wake him? His half-opened eyes glanced at the computer screen. **Current position: Unknown (out of range?)**. The message exactly the same as the last few months! Glancing at his arm he read the hands on his watch: 1:00AM. "Oh, Jeez," The scientist yawned.

Outside rain poured down hard on the foggy glass window above, when had it stared raining? Rubbing his eyes, Reed shakily climbed out of his office chair and stumbled out of the lab, tripping over his own feet. His lab coat sheltered him from most of the cold air that circulated through the living room as he made his way down the hall to his bedroom. Some sleep would do him some good. Reed stopped mid-way into the hall at the sound of sniffing, his ears raised in alarm at such a sound. Either they bought a dog or Wolverine dropped by. Both was highly unlikely, but Reed left nothing to chance. "Reed?" He whispered into the darkness.

Rustling was his response, it wasn't long until he heard the sound of footfalls heading in his direction. In the bleak night light Reed spotted the faint shade of orange spiky hair that reached his chest. "What are you doing up?" Reed asked the young man. The boy shrugged his shoulders, Reed laughed tiredly in response. "This would so much easier if you had vocal chords," Reed II's hands scratched his itching scalp in frustration. Reed had a point. There was no way he was going to be able to communicate with these stranger if he was not able to speak in their impoverished language. Reed II wore a scowl on his face he folded his arms across his chest as he pondered on solving this problem. "Look, you get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning," Reed grumbled walking away.

A soundless exclamation came from Reed II's throat, he immediately cursed himself and went after the taller man. When he caught up to him, the young man grabbed Reed's gloved hand causing Richards to turn abruptly in surprise. He fought to keep his arm yanking out of the young man's grasp. "Reed, don't do that," Reed whispered harshly, clearly startled. Reed II knew he had no means of expressing to the man what he had in mind. He knew if tried to do so in the dark he would only add onto the tension he felt from Reed. Raising his index finger he pressed it against Reed's forehead, what came next was a surge of invisible energy rushing through Reed II's finger into the scientist.

Reed felt his mind was somehow expanding, he saw the thoughts the young man was projecting to him, things he didn't remember happening after being taking to the Negative Zone. Reed was brought to his knees as if his legs had turned to led. Reed II removed his finger from the older man's forehead; Trepidation reflected through his eyes, had he killed him? Reed's heart thumped loudly in his ears, his vision blurred to the point where he could see nothing beyond his own darkness. His breath was sharp and short. His stomach twisted in knots, his hands clutched the side of his head; The mixed signals in the form of images and jumbled thoughts overwhelmed the scientist, he felt the ground cave in beneath him. Reed's eyes to roll in the back of his head. The next thing Reed II heard was a loud thump on the floor.

* * *

"You are not allowed to touch that," Came a voice. Reed and Ben turned their attention away from the nameless machine, to outside of the garage. A young blonde haired girl stood several feet away from them, twirling her pink jump rope effortlessly with one hand. Reed pulled his workshop goggles away from his eyes, resting them upon his head. Ben stared at the small girl in question, slightly intrigued by the sibling dispute about to take place. "Your going to get in trouble," Enid teased.

"Enid, I thought we had a deal?" The tweenage Reed Richards said indignantly. Enid shrugged her shoulders innocently, her curled ended hair falling off her shoulders. "What deal?" Enid asked. "A 'no tell' deal'," Reed answered. He was not going to get in trouble because she didn't feel like keeping her end of the bargain. "Only if you take me with you," Enid replied coolly.

"Enid!" Reed cried in frustration.

"Only if you promise to take me," Enid insisted. "I'm not going anywhere today," Reed snorted, thinking he got the drop on his sister. "I know. When you do," Enid repeated. Reed shook his head in objection.

"No," He said. Enid glared her hardest her annoying brother.

"Then I'm telling," She snapped.

Reed immediately frowned at his sister. "You. Suck," Reed growled. Enid shrugged her shoulders, still glaring at her 'slightly' taller brother.

"Don't swear! Now promise you are going to take me or I'm telling that you swore and that you're using Daddy's things," She sneered. it was no skin off her back if he got in trouble. More TV time for her if anything, she just had share it with Libby now and that was no competition. Reed looked to his friend Ben for moral support, the larger boy just shrugged his shoulders. Scratching the back of his head with hand, Reed let out a defeated sigh.

"Okay! God!" Reed yelled storming away from his sister, his face red with embarrassment. Enid jumped for joy, almost tripping on her jump rope.

"Yay!" She cried in genuine happiness. Reed resumed his conversation with Ben on his nameless machine. Enid jump-roped away from the garage dreaming of space-ships, aliens from another planet, and if Barbie dolls were a crowd favorite there.

* * *

Reed awoke with a start, his blue eyes wandered around the room as his body recognized he was lying on his bed, his arm propped under his head. The sun danced through the balcony window curtains, rubbing the sleep from his eyes Reed proceeded to climb out of the bed when something tugged at his right arm.

"Your awake," Reed turned in response to the small excited voice behind him, Sue Storm stared happily at him, this time without her glasses to magnify her large blue eyes. She climbed onto the bed next to him, Reed allowed himself a hug from the woman, tempted to fall asleep right on her. "What happened?" He asked groggily. Sue shook her head uncertain herself, she explained that she found him on the floor unconscious with Reed II standing next to him, terrified.

"I didn't bother to ask him what happened, I just got you into the bed. I figured you fell asleep on your feet, but my gut leads me to think otherwise," Sue said. _Maybe._ Reed nodded his head understandingly, he had no recollection of what happened to him after Reed II came after him as he stepped into the hall, maybe he did fall asleep on his feet. Anything was possible nowadays.

It was best for Reed to keep an open mind on these kinds of things. "I don't think you'll get much out of Reed now either. If he feels like it he'll come to us," Reed yawned. "I slept well by the way." Sue smiled in response. "Do you plan on locking yourself in the lab again?" The invisible woman asked coyly. Reed shook his head quickly. "I think I need some air, clear my head for a while before going back into that confounded lab again," The man replied.

Sue nodded slowly running her fingers through his hair, she felt him stiffen against her but paid it no mind. Resting her chin on his shoulder Sue glanced up at the pondering man contemplating her next question. "I don't mean to sound brash or anything, Reed, but when can we. . . . you know," Sue's fingers intertwined with his. Reed lowered his head realizing that her hand was on his exposed left hand, panic shivered through his mind; What as he going to do if Sue decided to pay attention to the cracks in his skin?

"Start dating again?" Reed finished. Sue nodded her head quickly, noticing the distress in his voice, maybe asking him that wasn't the wisest idea. "I, um, I guess when I figure this problem out. If ever," Reed answered. Sue rubbed his shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out," She said. Reed allowed himself to grin at her comment, he had forgotten about her unwavering belief in his ability to figure things out. Sliding out her embrace Reed stretched his limbs forward, his hands pressed themselves against the wall. The scientist let out a satisfied sigh.

His arms returned to their normal state, his uniform snaked back down his arms. Sue laughed at his antics climbing off the bed herself. "I'll be in the bathroom. I stink," Reed made a face after smelling his underarms. Sue sauntered up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I dunno, I think you smell very . . . _manly_," She joked. He rolled his eyes ducking out of her arms, he jogged out of his bedroom into the bathroom. Once finished inside the bathroom, Reed quick to dress himself and head into the living room. Ben was the first to greet him.

"Hey Reed, heard you passed out on the floor," He chuckled in amusement. "Something like that," Reed answered back with a grin. Ben shook his head lifting the news paper to his face. Reed glanced at the front of the newspaper. His eyes caught sight of the headline: "Bizarre Storm Clouds Plague Atmosphere: Has O-Zone finally given up?" His eyes blinked wearily at the headline. Bizarre storm clouds? A faint memory rang in his head, a mixture of red-orange and flashing lights invaded his vision. He shook his head as a dizzy spell fell over him.

_Are you all right?_ Reed turned to meet the worried gaze of Reed II. A spike of pain jolted through his head causing him to tip forward. _Your probably not used to that._ The pressure in the scientist's head rose like the sign of a headache, his hand instinctively touched the side of his head._ I apologize for last night, had I known the connection process would cause such reaction, I would not have attempted to do it._ The voice said.

The color in Reed's face drained immensely as he fought to keep his balance. "R-Reed?" He groaned rubbing his head. Ben raised his head in question when he noticed Reed was swaying on his feet, Ben went to his friend's aid. Instead of speaking again the boy nodded his head vigorously, a apologetic smile appeared on his lips._ Should I-_ Reed raised his head, Reed II's mouth formed a straight line indicating he fell silent. "Thank you," He sighed tipping sideways. "Whoa, there egghead, don't go passing out again," Ben threw his friend's arm over his shoulder.

Reed nodded appreciatively to Ben while casting a regarding glance at Reed II. Johnny stepped out of the kitchen followed by Sue, in his mouth resided a large piece of bread clamped between his teeth. ". . . All I'm saying' is Sue, that its none of your business who I'm seeing," Johnny quipped swallowing his food. "What makes you think I _care_? I just want to know this girl's name," Sue responded hotly.

"I'll spell it out for you Sue: N-o-n-e o-f y-o-u-r b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s," The fiery words hovered in front of her face, Sue formed a shield over the words; they vanished instantly. Johnny grinned and made his way towards his other two comrades, Reed looked to the man with a humored smile. "Hey, Mr. Fantastic's awake!" Johnny cheered jubilantly. "Nice to see you too, Johnny. Did you leave anything to eat?" Reed yawned. Johnny made a short nod. "Yeah, I left a waffle for you," Johnny said, never noticing the death rays Sue was sending in his direction.

Reed's stomach made a loud growl as if it were disapproving with Johnny had said to its owner. All eyes averted to the dizzy scientist. Reed II's eyebrows raised in alarm having never heard that noise before in his time on Earth. He required the simple, but abundant source of light as food. Reed laughed nervously. "I must've gone without food yesterday," He said, hoping no one would chastise him for it.

"No wonder you passed out," Ben chuckled. Johnny wore a careless expression on his face when he clamped his hand down on Reed's left shoulder. "Well it's a good thing I left you something to eat," Johnny said with a sigh. The scientist grunted in surprise sending a short lived glare in the Johnny's direction. His stomach growled again. "Anyway, I'm outta here sticks-in-the-mud," Johnny announced. The Human Torch waltzed over to the young man standing across from the others.

"I've got dibs on the Dali Lama here. We seriously need a new name for him. Reed just sucks," Johnny wacked the young man on his back. Reed II's brow furrowed. _What's a Dali Lama?_ He asked. Reed heard the boy's voice echoing in his head, his brow creased from the pressure he felt in his head. "Don't do that," Reed groaned extending his arm so his hand could touch his forehead. "Do what, Reed?" Susan asked. Reed was quick to realize that none of the others were able to hear this child's voice. "Reed said something to me in my head," He said.

Sue, Ben, and Johnny looked at their comrade like he had grown two heads. "Get out. He did?" The Human Torch said, impressed. Ben removed his friend's arm from around his bulky shoulder. "Did you hit your head, Reed?" Ben scanned the man's head for bumps with his hand. Reed slapped Ben's hand away in irritation, a scowl was now clearly on his face. "No! I just know that I heard him in my head, just now!" Reed snapped. Sue brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes, she pressed her hand on his forehead.

"He doesn't seem to have a fever," She said. "I don't have a fever, Sue. I'm telling you he spoke to me in my head. Did you?" Reed said, his voice cracking from desperation. Reed II nodded his vigorously to the scientist. Johnny cocked his head to the side. "Weirder shit has happened to us. I say Reed is telling the truth. Its not like he lies about _weird_ stuff," Johnny opted. "Its not in his nature." Reed and Sue rolled their eyes in unison at Johnny's comment. "Reed is capable anything, Johnny. Even lying. He just doesn't do it in the _straight forward_ sense," Sue corrected. Reed glanced in the other direction, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He stepped past Ben and Sue into the kitchen, he certainly wasn't expecting them to react to his latest finding like they did.

Reed picked the waffle up off the saucer and chewed large chunks off it until there was nothing left but the crumbs on his gloved hands. Wiping his hands, he began to proceed out the kitchen just as the alarm in his lab caught his attention. The Storm siblings looked on in confusion, Ben and Reed knew exactly what the alarm meant. The two rushed off toward the lab. Sue, Johnny, and Reed II followed after the two men.

Reed jumped into his chair causing it to slide across the room to the computer. With a press of a button the computer screen came to life and showcased information Reed hadn't exactly been searching for. Been came up to his friend's side, his rocky brow creased. "What is it egghead?" He grumbled. Reed didn't right away, his eyes scanned the computer screen intently. "NASA just picked up on something; A storm cloud anomaly forming right above New York," Reed mused. Ben's eyes darted from the computer screen to his friend a couple times in concern. "You know what it is right, egghead?" He said.

Reed looked to Ben, a less than convincing expression replaced the usual confidence Reed carried about himself. "In theory," Reed replied. Ben groaned. They were all doomed if the greatest mind the world was stumped. _Dimensional rift between the worlds I believe is what it is_, Reed II's voice echoed in Reed's head causing a second bout of dizziness to wash over him. His brown eyes shifted the young man standing in front of Sue and Johnny. _Give me a little warning next time, Reed,_ Mr. Fantastic uttered mentally to the boy. _You think this has something to do the I.D.M.?_

Reed II nodded his head._ Do you remember anything before coming here?_ Again an affirmative nod, then a shake of the head from the teenager. Reed's eyebrows knitted together in slight annoyance. _I couldn't tell you anything because I had no means to communicate with you until now. I'm sorry. I, however, do not know if your machine is causing this disturbance directly._

Reed II had a sort of ashamed look on his face. Reed automatically gave a wave of his hand before being distracted by another alarm, the computer screen turned itself off again. Exhaling in frustration the scientist gave the mouth a simple click and the screen reappeared this time with information for the I.D.M.; Reed's heart skipped a beat.

* * *

**Label: I.D.M. (Interplan****etary Dimension Machine)**

**ID: #144055910**

**Current Position: Unknown (Stratosphere?)**

**Status: On**

**Energy Level: Low**

**Condition: Severe Damage sustained**

* * *

_In my world, the laws state that no one is allowed to breech the walls that keep the worlds of the other universes apart from each other, in spite of their speculative awareness of their existence. In the eventuality the walls are breached the dimensions will attempt to repair itself; However, it anything is taken from its natural environment (say, me; a simple creature of a dimension made of dead star matter. A fading light come together after a planet's death to create a storage for the knowledge that will soon be forgotten. I have no actual body. I simply borrowed this form with the use of your DNA) the dimensional walls are unable to repair themselves until that object is returned to its rightful place. I left my world to return you to your rightful place, but I am unable to return as of now._

_Should someone actually travel through a dimensional rift when it is open, they are severely effected by the Negative Zone (a sort of gateway entrance to other worlds). Given your altered state you came out of the ordeal partly unscathed. However, you are suffering from a affect caused by your trip through the Negative Zone into my dimension. In other words, you are slowly fading out existence because my dimension was not made to support life such as yours. Your dying much in a way a planet outside my solar system would. Fading out of existence, momentary spasms of pain caused by dying molecules. I'm sure your aware of this? _

Reed Richards shrugged slightly. He wouldn't call it aware, but he had a feeling. The boy continued; _The storm cloud your NASA detected is another sign the breached dimensional wall has been severely damaged. It will naturally take time to build the strength it needs to unleash the Negative Zone's defense system. If the tear is not repaired and I am not returned to my world, your city will be destroyed. And perhaps things worse than the Negative zone itself will become fully aware of your world if they haven't already. You must act quickly if you are to stop this. Return me to my rightful world and the breech will repair itself._

Reed exhaled and rubbed his eyes, his head throbbed dully as a result of the time Reed II had been in his head speaking to him.

"Reed, you all right?" Johnny asked slapping him on the back. "You like totally blanked out on us. What's going on?" Shaking his head for a moment to clear the dizziness from his head, Reed stood up from his chair slowly. "I think my passing through the space-time continuum, or Negative Zone, might have caused a few problems," Reed said, breaking the silence. Sue's blue eyes widened.

"What do you mean 'caused a few problems'_?_" When the scientist didn't answer, his teammates grew even more worried.

"Reed?" Reed turned to Ben in response. "Reed tells me that the storm that NASA found is a sign that there's a breech in the dimensional wall that keeps the number of worlds from, I guess being full aware of the other, a sort of safe guard I guess. When I turned the I.D.M. on, something happened. I guess I actually succeeded in opening a path to another dimension, but not in the way I wanted to.

"Reed says that when I traveled to his world I was effected by the Negative Zone - a gateway to other worlds - and things only got worse when I entered his world," Reed allowed himself a breather. Sue, Johnny, and Ben stared at their leader in question, what did he mean? "Effected how?" Sue asked, her eyebrows narrowed. Reed felt his throat tighten at the look Susan was giving him, Johnny just looked confused but equally concerned nonetheless. "Reed?" This time it was Ben. He came up beside his friend. Reed saw no way out of this bind he gotten himself into, he had to show them.

Bringing his left hand from his side, Reed proceeded to pull his glove off his hand. The others watched with anxiety building inside them. Reed's fingers seemed to breathe in the fresh air surrounding them, finally able to breathe past the thick black glove. Johnny stepped from behind Reed II and grabbed Reed's hand gingerly. He felt the palm of his hand along with everything else, but he couldn't see it! Reed's hand was completely invisible. "Whoa, Reed, your like invisib-" That was all that Johnny was able to get out of his mouth before Sue pushed him aside.

Suspecting more, Sue pushed his sleeve up his arm and lifted the elastic fabric of his uniform. Sue bit her lip in way to force back the anger and tears that threatened to overwhelm her good sense. She glanced up at Reed whose expression placid. "Why didn't you tell us?" She asked standing straight again. Thunder rolled in the distance as if it were answering Sue's question, Reed shook his head in honest uncertainty. "I didn't think I think anything of it at first, but then it got worse -." Reed was stopped in mid-sentence by the sound of Johnny's voice. "Sue, Ben, Reed, c'mere, you gotta see this!"

The trio -followed by Reed II- exited the lab and raced into living room. Johnny who stood in front of the television with the remote in his hand. When had he left the lab without their notice? "What is it, Johnny?" Reed asked breathlessly. Johnny took a moment to stare at his leader's left arm, it was still missing from sight. Deciding against commenting on the invisible arm, Johnny turned the volume up.

"If you are just tuning in, we urge you to stay inside if you can. If you must go outside then stay out for as short a time as possible; The weather station as posted a severe thunderstorm warning; Several of our people covering the storm were struck down suddenly and have been confirmed to be dead as a result of a freak burst of electricity from the storm cloud over New York.. Again," Johnny switched the television off with a long whistle.

"Makes for good television if wasn't real," He uttered. Sue slapped her brother upside the head with a scowl; He had a tendency to make jokes at the wrong time. "Well, how are we gonna stop this thing?" Ben asked, uncertainty clear in his voice. "I'm working on it," Reed grumbled stepping away from the others.

He stormed past Reed II heading for his bedroom. Upon entering he walked around his bed and grabbed the wireless phone from off his pillow. Reed exhaled heavily as he dialed his sister's number. He listened the Nokia phone ring. Libby and the folks were still in California, however, there was no way to tell if Enid had left New York yet. His foot tapped rapidly on the floor as the cell phone continued to ring, his brown eyes glanced worriedly out the open balcony window at the gray world outside. A click on the line caused Reed to grasp his wireless phone tighter, he recognized the muffled sounds of the outside world from within a car.

A sigh followed next before the recipient finally spoke. "_Hello, Enid Richards speaking,"_ Reed choked up at the sound of his sister's voice; This was no time for second thoughts, Reed sighed inwardly. "Enid, it's Reed," He started. There was a disgusted scoff on the other line, Reed fought the urge to scowl at his phone. "_Give me one good reason I shouldn't hang up on you. Aside from this particularly bad weather,"_ Enid said cooly. "Enid, I haven't got time to bicker with you. Where are you?" He asked pacing the room. "_I'm heading into Manhattan as we speak. They canceled my flight because of the weather or didn't you notice it was raining outside?_" Enid retorted. Reed glanced outside to the balcony.

There wasn't a drop of rain in his area whatsoever. Raising the phone back to his ear he said, "Well, its not raining here. Look, I want you to come here," Enid chuckled on the other line as if she were truly amused by his concern. "_Come where? The Baxter Building? No, I'm not stepping foot into that place! I'm not even supposed to be speak-,_" Reed's teeth gritted as he found himself losing his temper.

"Enid, will you stop being so damn pigheaded and listen to me! Something is happening, something bad. I cannot be worrying about your safety and do something about this problem too!" Reed's face was red with anger from his sister's blatant disregard for her well-being. His arm jerked away from him, another spasm of pain ran up his arm. His eyes glanced downward at his left arm, the arm was flickering like a discharging light. Reed swallowed back a moan of pain rising in his throat. "..._ Yell at me! You're not my father. I can take care of myself, don't worry about me,"_ Enid's voice slowly registered in his ears. Feeling dizzy, Reed fell back on his bed, the world was spinning above him. "Enid, please. Will you just come to the Baxter Building?" He moaned punching his left arm. "I'm still your brother, I'm still the same ol' Reed Richards. Just physically different. Why can't you see that?"

Enid took her time answering her brother, Reed on the side of his mouth as another spasm of pain shot up his fading left arm. "_I know mom and dad raised us better than that, but this is just the way I feel about mutants. I can't say I love you and hate mutants. It's just not practical,"_ End said finally, her voice slightly affliction. Reed shook his head in confusion. "Why can't you?" He asked. Enid sighed in frustration.

"_I've talked to you for too long. I've gotta go,"_ Enid turned her cell phone off and proceeded down the road. Reed lay there in his bed staring at the ceiling, a blank expression on his face. Running his hand through his hair, the man sat upright and stared into space unaware of Sue's approaching presence. She stopped before his bed, her eyes blazing with anger. He did not bother to acknowledge Susan until she spoke. "Why didn't you tell me about your arm?" Sue snapped.

Reed exhaled rubbing his forehead in exasperation. "I panicked I guess. I was afraid you'd react the way you are now. I _thought_ it was a hallucination from being fried," Reed ranted. "There were a billion things going through my head, none of them were focused on the dangers of my condition." Sue moved swiftly and was on the bed beside Reed in an instant, she cupped his face in her hands. "It should've Reed," Sue said, her voice carrying the anger. Reed shook his head in uncertainty. He hadn't been thinking with a straight head for the past four months, not since his fight with Enid anyway.

His brow creased at the volume of the thunder in the clouds. When it returned a second time lightening struck the balcony. Reed and Sue lept from the mattress when lightening stuck close to the bed. Instinctively Reed's arms were around Sue who was currently shielding them from the erratic bursts of electricity that attacked them. Outside the lightening raged on, the thunder growing in volume, screaming from outside could faintly be heard. Reed felt his ears ringing as if he were inside a dome, his left arm throbbed with pain as the lightening dissipated. "What is that?" Sue mumbled.

Reed squinted through the illumination of the lightening as it dissipated; In the middle of the balcony resided a crouched figure, obviously male judging by the mass of the body. The couple shared a glance for a brief second before realizing that Sue's shield was no longer around them. Sue let out an alarmed gasp. Reed stared cautiously at the figure crouching across from them, his hand pressed against the ground, his muscles showed through his black body suit. As he rose to the ground the outline of his body became rigidly familiar right down to the way he stood.

Sue's mouth fell open sightly in disbelief, Reed felt as though his legs were going to give out on him. The man's eyes opened revealing two deep brown eyes. On his chest resided the number four crest. His hand raised quicker than the two could regain their composure. They were hit by a force stronger than Sue's offensive shield. Sue was thrown out of the room, Reed collided with the wall. The man grinned satisfied, he stepped further into the room. Reed pulled himself away from the wall ignoring the crackling electricity flowing through his invisible arm. Grunting Reed attempted to move away from the assailant, the man barely watched for a moment then attacked.

His hand was against Reed's throat in an instant. Reed choked as he tired to pry the man's fingers from around his neck. His lungs begged for air and the harder he struggled the tighter his grasp became. Reed felt dizzy and lightheaded, his fingers weren't even prying the assailant's hand from his throat any longer. Through blurred vision he saw the man smile wickedly at his turmoil, Reed could feel his eyes rolling to the back of his head. The man's smile kept getting wider. "Reed!" A gust of hot wind and orange light brought him out of near-unconsciousness, Reed slumped to the floor coughing. The attacker leapt backward over the bed barely scratched by the fire that assaulted his body. Sue promptly dragged her ex-boyfriend out of the room, her eyes barely watching Johnny taunt the attacker. Ben stood out in the hall with Reed II in the crook of his arm.

"Kid alerted us and we came running," Ben grumbled, with apology in his voice. Sue nodded weakly looking over the angry bruise forming on Reed's throat. Johnny took his eyes away from the man standing across the bedroom to glance at his sister. "Sue, if he's _here_, what the hell is he doing over _there_," He said in more of a statement than question. "I don't know, Johnny," Sue said, panic stricken. Reed was drawn further out of his semi-unconscious state. He opened his eyes quickly and sat up in spite of his dizziness, he fell back a bit before Sue caught him in her arms. "Don't try to move-," She was cut off by an loud cry from her brother.

Sue jumped from Reed's side just in time to see her brother thrown over the balcony by Negative-Reed. Without a second thought Sue sent forth one of her offensive shields, the man raised his hand and the shield dissipated before it could reach him. He glanced back at her with a look of pure indifference before his hand shout out in front of him. The air before him rippled and Sue was sent flying out of the room the physic force, her back hit the wall hard.

"Suzie!" Large black blotches invaded Sue's vision as she tired to pull herself up off from the ground. Her body wasn't responding to her correctly rendered helpless by the blow it had taken. "Ben, get Reed and Sue out of here," Reed climbed to his feet ignoring the raw pain in his throat, he swayed slightly on his feet swallowing down a wave of nausea.

"No can do Reed, you take care 'em. I'll handle doppelganger in there," Ben set the Reed II down onto floor. He pushed past his friend proceeding into the fray. Reed barely kept his eyes on the two wrestling bodies in his bedroom, trashing his belongings. He grabbed Sue up from the floor. The woman did not retaliate against his helpful hand though she was caught slightly off guard by his unseen limb grasping her left arm, the boy lead the two of them down the hall into the living room. Reed's ears rang painfully with each blow Ben's enormous body made to whatever part of the bedroom that was being destroyed. There were going to be remolding bills the size of Rhode Island when all this was through.

* * *

_Where are we going?_ The boy's non-voice sent a child down Reed's spine. _Again, give me a little warning next time. Were going outside, if we stay in here, there are plenty people that are going to get hurt. _Reed replied glaring. The boy nodded his head in half-apology. The tiro continued out of the living room into the long narrow hall. Sue was quickly regaining her senses through the fog of her headache and pain, she looked to Reed who seemed to focus on nothing but getting out of the Baxter Building. Reed II lead the way down the hall, thankful he had memorized the way out of the large building.

They opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator. The trip was a rough one for the couple, Reed II levitated himself down the stairs with little strain on himself. "Where's Johnny, where's Ben?" Sue murmured shaking her hair out of her face.

"Ben's a bit preoccupied, I haven't the foggiest idea where your brother has gone," He replied, his voice raspy. Sue feared the worse for her brother the closer they got to the bottom floor. Reed II lead them out of the stairway, Sue squinted at the harsh bright lights of the lobby floor. The employee at the door was nowhere to be found to Reed's delight. His throat was not up to explaining the situation the overly-friendly man.

The tiro exited through the doors in haste. Reed's gaze cast upward at the black sky. It illuminated briefly with lightening, Reed steadily noticed an even darker spot in the clouds forming of a large black hole. Sue glanced around their environment, there was not a trace of a person anywhere. "Where is everyone?" Sue whispered. She looked to Reed who promptly shook his head, uneasiness was quick to swell in his mind as his brown eyes ventured across the area. "They might've heeded the newscasters's warnings, or got caught in the ripple effect from the storm funnel up there," Reed rambled.

Sue gave him a regarded look, what was he talking about? "_Ripple effect_?" She repeated. Reed nodded his head as they proceeded across the empty street, their footsteps barely echoed in the storm induced night. Reed II followed quickly behind the two adults, he was unable to shake the bad feeling rising within in his spark.

"Yeah, um, when negative electrical charge is set off by the tear in the Dimension, a funnel is created, a sort of bridge between worlds. And when the funnel travels downward it sorta disperses a ripple effect that _destroys_ or _transports_ anything organic given how close you are to it," Reed said slowly. He was huffing by the time they got across the street. Sue eased her arm from around his shoulder and gently forced him to the ground to allow himself a breather.

Sue stood by his side with her hand on his shoulder, while her eyes continued to wander the dark and gray world around them. _She's very tentative towards you. Never does she behave in such a manner toward her brother or Ben. Why is that?_ Reed II's voice caused another spell of dizziness in Reed's head. The older man looked toward the orange-haired boy with a puzzled gleam in his weary brown eyes. _Aren't there women in your dimension_ He asked. Reed shook his head firmly. _Like myself, my people have no gender. The means of reproduction of is useless to us. Dying planet matter travels to our dimension, thus creating a new life form without the trouble of intercourse. She's tentative towards you because of your gender?_

Reed II said. Reed shook his head quickly growing red in the face. _No, no! We used to be involved with each other in collage; We dated for a while and broke up because Sue was ready to move forward and I simple wasn't ready to take that next step. She's told me on several occasions that she still loves me. I guess she's got a little more patience this time 'round._ Reed sighed holding his head in his hands. _Forgive me, I've asked too many questions._ The boy said quickly. Reed told the boy it was nothing but an side affect from being choked. Reed II nodded his head and ventured down the sidewalk in caution. "Where could Johnny have gone off to?" She mumbled. Reed glanced at his friend noting the concern in her voice, he feared that Johnny was caught in the funnel's ripple effect. Swallowing he grasped Sue's hand. "Sue, give me a hand will you?" He said barely above a whisper.

Sue grasped his right arm, she could see the angry bruise around the scientists neck beginning to dissipate. Reed stood with ease, he sent an thankful nod in her direction.

"C'mon, we'll go look for him," He whispered walking past her. Sue followed after the leader down the dark path of the sidewalk, she watched his slightly sagging shoulders, her mind wandering to her brother. The silence between them was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass, the duo looked upward in time to see Ben's body plummeting quickly to the ground. A thunderous boom followed his crash to the ground, the concrete beneath him cracking.

Reed's mouth dropped open at the sight of his friend's rocky body, smoke rising from Ben's body. "Ben!" He shouted rushing forward, his pain forgotten. "Reed, stop!" Sue cried out after the man.

Reed crouched down beside his unconscious friend, his hand reached to touch Ben. His arm went rigid, another spasm of pain and electricity ran up his arm paralyzing him. Reed cried out clutching his arm. Negative-Reed landed behind scientist. Reed turned his head in response, gritting his teeth against a howl of pain rising in his throat. Negative-Reed looked more or less exactly like the Reed crouched on the ground.

The only way Sue could tell them apart was the black uniform Negative-Reed wore, the more defined white hair on the side mixed into brunette, and a much more worn and angry expression. His eyes were heavily underlined by dark circles. Sue looked between the two in shock. Ben had not moved since Reed had reached him, Johnny was missing and Negative-Reed was sure to kill _her _Reed if she didn't do something quick.

Negative-Reed looked about him landing on the ground, he seemed genuinely amazed by the world around him. "And here I thought I had gotten rid _all_ my other selves and their teams," Negative-Reed sent a glance in Sue's direction. The woman shuddered when his tongue slid across his mouth. "I suppose I can be wrong. This one time," The man raised his hand, Reed watched his doppelganger's hand form itself into a spear like instrument. Reed felt his heart stop in his chest as the doppelganger brought his sharpened arm on him, his arm shot from behind him wrapping itself around Negative-Reed's waist.

The man grunted as he was taken high into the air by his double, did he honestly think he couldn't reach him from above? Negative-Reed's arm shot out aimed straight for Reed, Sue raised a shield around her two friends. Reed flinched when the point collided with the invisible shield, his heart pumped wildly in his chest. Sue put a shield around herself when she saw the man glance in her direction, beads sweat were already forming on her forehead. Negative-Reed let out a cry of surprise when he felt himself jerked violently to the left, with all the strength in his elongated arm Reed sent his alternate self higher into the air. Negative-Reed soared high above the city buildings, the hot air flowing around him, he stared down the world below with a sardonic grin.

* * *

Reed's hand retracted to its normal form, he groaned, the pain in his arm was steadily subsiding. "Oh, what hit me?" Ben's voice's wanted to make Reed hit his friend himself, the blood rushing from his head was deafening. "Ben, are you all right?" Reed asked. Ben groaned some more as he was helped off the ground by his flexible friend. Ben rolled his eyes, he was the exact opposite of all right. "I feel like I got hit by a Mack truck. Is that all right?" Ben snapped rubbing his chest. "I suppose not," Reed answered dumbly. Ben forced himself not to roll his eyes for a second time, he hadn't expected Reed to answer him.

Mr. Fantastic's eyes stared upward; The dark clouds seemed to be pushing themselves downward toward them. Something wasn't right with any of this, where was Reed II and Johnny? Reed took a look behind him, Sue was missing as well. "Ben, we have to get moving before. . . .," Reed trailed off when he felt the weight under his finger vanish. His head snapped around, Ben was no longer in his grip or anywhere within his area. _Okay, something was **is** right. _Reed felt the harsh wind push against his body, the hairs on his neck stood upright.

There was no point standing in once place waiting for whatever snatched Ben, Sue, and Reed II. Pulling the collar his dress shirt closer to him, Reed jogged down the sidewalk whenever he paused in his walking. He had walked down the sidewalk until he was right under the forming funnel. Reed felt a small spike of pain run up his arm; Closing his eyes for a minute he heard a voice cry out to him. "Reed!" He turned to look behind him, his breath was caught in his throat when he spotted Johnny flying overhead of a running woman. "Enid . . .," He whispered.

Johnny lowered himself to the ground in front of Reed, his flame vanished in an instant. To say the least the younger was not happy. "Johnny, where did you go?" Reed blurted. "Dude I dunno, I was falling out of the window. I fly up to the balcony and wham! _Nobody_'s even in the Baxter Building! Next thing I know I'm standing outside and she's running toward me. . . . its very confusing," Johnny replied. Reed's brow creased in concern.

"Where's Sue, Ben and the kid?" Johnny said quietly. Enid slowly came up beside Johnny hesitant to even stand beside him, Reed's brow creased in confusion. "I don't know. One minute there next to me, the next their not. I think the dimensional tear has something to do this. Its distorting time placement or something," Reed answered. Enid shot a weary glance at her brother, her hands stuffed in her undone trench coat, Reed ignored her and kept his attention focused on Johnny. "Have you seen your double?" Johnny said, his eyebrow raising.

Reed couldn't help but smile. "Last I checked he was up there," He answered. Johnny scratched his head in response. "Hurry up , don't fall behind,"Reed gestured for the two youngest to follow him, Johnny sighed half in dismay and half-surprise. He gave Enid a sort of a charming grin. So this was Enid, Reed's baby sister.

"C'mon, uh, Enid. Don't fall behind. You might disappear," Johnny joked. Enid went rigid at the thought of vanishing like her rental car had when she stepped out. She rushed over to Johnny's side and clutched his arm to ensure that she wouldn't vanish without his knowing. She watched Reed stride across the sidewalk, on alert, his shoulders slouched. They traveled as far as the east end street, a raised hand from Reed stopped them from proceeding. Enid clutched Johnny's arm harder, Johnny sent the woman another charming smile; If he had known Reed's sister was so _blonde_ and _cute_ to boot, he would've been a lot nicer on his birthday all those years ago.

"What is it?" Enid spoke finally. Reed turned his head to the side, his eyebrows knitted together, worry lines more visible in his face. Pushing aside his personal feelings aside, Reed answered, "I heard something," Reed replied. Thunder rumbled above them, lightening illuminated the black clouds for a brief second. Reed could clearly see the funnel was making its way down right over top them. "I saw that when I fell out the window," Johnny said suddenly.

Reed's eyebrows raised in alarm his head whipped in the direction of his comrade. "You did? What does it do?" This could properly prove his theory and the vanishing act Sue and Ben pulled. Johnny shook his head in uncertainty, he wasn't sure how describe what little he saw when the funnel spectacle materialize in the middle of the street. "I'm not sure exactly, while I was falling I could see it, you know? A lot people were screaming, then one second they weren't, you know, like someone put 'em on pause or something," Johnny rambled on quickly.

"I saw a lot of light and then nothing. Just silence." Pause. "Are you getting all this? Because I'm not sure if-." Reed raised his hand promptly silencing the young man. He stared up, the clouds were getting thicker and closer to the cluster of buildings surrounding them. "If you what you say is true Johnny, I suggest we get out of here," Reed said. "Oh, right," Johnny muttered, bolting into action. Reed followed after him before skidding a halt, Enid wasn't following them. Without uttering a world Reed grabbed the girl by the wrist and bolted down the sidewalk after Johnny. Enid's stomach twisted in knots as she fought the urge to pull her hand from her brother's elastic grasp. Her short heels made running difficult for her, her foot would occasionally bend to the side.

Out of the black clouds above them sprouted a specter of light the side of the very buildings of NYC, larger than the streets itself; It came down in a spiral motion. The massive force crashed to the ground, Enid felt her blonde hair suddenly surge upward, the ribbon in her hair tugged violently out its pony tail. Reed felt his arm being yanked upon, his snapped in the direction of his sister who's feet are barely touching the ground now, his eyes wandered to the large and expanding funnel behind them.

Enid was terrified to say the least, her feet weren't on the ground, her fingers were easily sleeping from her brother's hand. Reed felt her hand slipping from his grasp, he had little time to call out to Johnny who was steadily leaving his line of sight. Swallowing his panic Reed extended his arm towards a shuddering street light, his hand grasped the metal cylinder tightly. He was surprised to find his left arm still stretched, even now in its unstable state. Enid's fingers were barely hanging onto his own now, Enid's other hand grasped at his dress shirt desperately. His shoes slid across the ground, he grunted in alarm as he tried to pull himself and his sister towards the street light.

Enid gasped when her brother's arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close to his body without much struggle. Enid wrapped her arms around his neck in fear, his discernment forgotten. Johnny was now gone from sight, there were no other places aside from the next street light ahead of them and that didn't look ready to come out of the ground. Enid's hitched breath tickled the side of his Reed's neck, briefly distracting him from their predicament. He glanced down at his sister who's gaze currently was on his chest.

Swallowing the nervous feeling fluttering inside him Reed removed his hand from his sister's waist, and extended forward. His hand latched onto the side of the building, Enid's grasp tightened on him when she felt his body surge forward. Reed grunted in exhaustion when his shoulder bumped against the wall his hand clutched to, his heart rate slowed at the sensation of the strong pull of the funnel dying out. Enid's grip, however, was no lighter when a horrible screech, louder than anything Reed had heard before, echoed out from behind them. There was a slight pull on his body, Reed felt dizzy with confusion. What was going on? _Reed, you've returned!_ The familiar voice of Reed II caught the older man's attention. His brown eyes focused on the lanky figure standing some distance away from Ben and his other self, who were locked in combat.

Reed watched slightly as N-Reed round housed his friend, sending the larger man stumbling backward. _When did I leave? Where'd you go?_ Reed retorted, his head throbbing. _We did not go anywhere. After you helped Benjamin off the ground, you vanished as if-_ Enid's ear piercing scream blocked the boy's voice out of Reed's head causing him to glance in the direction his sister was screaming at. Reed felt his legs weaken at the sight of a monstrous creature -taller than most of the buildings surrounding them- made its way down from the sky. The lower body was modeled much like a human, strongly defined muscles in is arms and abdomen that was attached to serpents tail. Claws sharper than steel shot from its three fingers, deadly scales sticking out all over its back. A head shaped like a monitor lizard, green eyes that gleamed through the darkness. A majority of its fangs rested outside its mouth covered in sticky white foam.

It was an fierce looking creature. It landed like a body belly-flopping into the water, the street cracked underneath its excessive weight. _The Behemoth; The N-Zone's first defense._ Reed II's voice echoed again in Reed's mind. Enid screamed in pure horror when the creature turned its head in their general direction, it bellowed as if in response. Reed tried to keep her still, her arms removed themselves from his neck and she pounded furiously at her brother's chest until he could actually feel it. There was no point in trying to tell her to calm down, Reed released her and the girl dashed down the sidewalk screaming her head off. _Reed go after her!_ The scientist yelled in the boy's mind. Reed II nodded his head and chased after the woman.

Negative-Reed shifted his head in response, his pale brown eyes watching Enid running for dear life. Ben smashed the double into ground with all his strength, his body was aching. Actually hurting from the relentless beating he got from Negative-Reed! "Ben, where's Sue!" Reed's voice caused The Thing to glance upward his tired friend. His non existent ears perked up at sound of fire burning overhead. Johnny sent a barrage of fire balls in the monster's direction when it tired to advance on the unsuspecting Ben.

"Where's my sister, Ben!" The young man shouted lowering himself close to the ground. The monster swatted Johnny out of the air, the Human Torch crashed through a office building window with a cry of pain. Johnny tumbled in a circular motion through the empty office until he was stopped by a wall. Johnny felt his head spinning like he had been thrown from a merry-go-round. His body refused to move, his eyes widened, the monster's snout smashed through the structure of the building barreling its way toward him. _I'm done for!_ Torch though frantically, his breath caught in his throat.

Johnny let out a fear-stricken cry of pain as the creature's jaws closed in around him. His eyes squeezed shut tears running freely down his face. A minute past, Johnny became aware of grunting other than his own. Opening his eyes he let out a gasp of surprise; the monster's mouth was open above him, its spit drooling down the side of an invisible barrier. "Sue?" Johnny shouted, overjoyed.

Sue materialized beside her brother, her hands outstretched. When had she gotten here? Johnny thought in astonishment. The monster glared at her through its narrowed green eyes. "Get up Johnny, I can't hold him forever," She grunted. Johnny nodded slowly, his legs ached in protest when rose slowly to his feet, he swayed a little to the right as he made his way past his sister. The green-eyed monster hissed at the blonde before him; He knew she didn't have the strength to hold his jaw in such a position. Moving as fast as she could, Sue followed behind her brother sweat pouring down her forehead.

The two reached the edge of the hole in the building, Johnny looked around for a safe place to land, he grunted in surprise when his sister jumped on his back. "Sue are you crazy?" He yelled. Sue placed a shield over herself in the shape of her body, she swallowed roughly when she felt her shield around the monster's snout failing. "Just hurry up and get us out of here!" Sue snapped, letting out a sigh. Johnny jumped from the building in a nose dive crying, "FLAME ON!" Sue gasped at the sudden combustion that swallowed her brother whole, she focused all her energies on keeping her shield up around her.

Johnny flew at top speed as the creature came after them, throwing all its body weight forward for momentum. Its jaw snapped at their heals for but a moment before being forcefully closed. Sue looked behind her and discovered Reed had wrapped himself around the jaws of the monster, her heart skipped a beat when the beast attempted to scratch him off his face. A gasp from Johnny caused Sue to turn her attention to world ahead of her, she too let out a involuntary gasp of surprise.

"What the hell?" Johnny uttered as he brought himself to a halt. Sue wrapped her legs around Johnny's waist and kept her arms firmly around his neck. How on God's green earth had they ended up in the middle of the ocean? "We're in serious trouble," Johnny muttered. _More than _serious_, little brother,_ Sue thought, her brow creasing with distress.

* * *

**(TBC)**

* * *

**Authors note:** The majority of things mentioned in this chapter about the N-Zone are purely made up by moi, the writer.


	4. Part IV: Barbastella

**Part IV: Barbastella**

* * *

Reed felt his stomach lurch at the jerky motion of the monster he had enveloped himself around. A strangled growl erupted from apprehended creature, its claws scratched at his elongated body, the sound of his clothes being torn from his body gnawed at his ears. "Ben, I could really use some _help!_" Reed shouted desperately. Ben, currently preoccupied with Negative-Reed, glanced upward at his friend with disdain.

"I'm a little busy, egghead!" Ben snapped irritably, punching N-Reed in the face. The N-Reed stumbled slightly but showed no signs of wearing down. N-Reed glanced upward at the other Reed remembering that he was fighting with this ogre just to get his other self. Ben came at Negative-Reed at full force. He stared down at the man in annoyance, newly restored vigor. Ben swung his mighty fist at the double, Negative-Reed ducked it with ease raising his hand he released burst of physic energy at the giant. Ben's body hit the ground hard enough to crack the concrete, Negative-Reed barely smiled down at his handy work before heading off in the direction of his double and the beast.

Reed fought to keep himself around the snout of the monster while he wracked his brain for a safe way of removing himself when the time came. One false move and he would be in the belly of the beast (no pun intended). The approach of Negative-Reed caused the beast to postpone his vicious attacks, it glowing green eyes peered downward at the figure. With one mighty push against the inside of its mouth, the monster's tongue lashed out at the man around his snout. Reed's body uncoiled from around the monster's snout and he was sent plummeting downward, his limbs flailed lifelessly around him. Reed landed on the ground like a pile of dirty clothes.

Reed groaned as his limbs automatically returned to their normal state. His arms being the quickest, his legs took their time. Sweat dripped down his face and nose, his chest heaved heavily. Negative-Reed focused his attention on the creature towering above them, his eyes bore into its malicious green ones. The beast's body swayed slightly until he was rendered still. Grinning, his arm shot out without warning, attempting to wrap itself around Reed's neck. The scientist dodged the attack, with a swift jerk of his head N-Reed watched was the Behemoth became reanimated.

Raising its arm over its head he brought it down on the scientist. Reed rolled out of the way, the beast's claws embedded themselves into ground right next to him.

Reed jumped onto his feet only to be grabbed by the neck by N-Reed. The beast heaved itself up off the ground holding its body weight up with his arms. The serpent like tail came rushing from underneath it and aimed direction of the two men. Reed felt his neck be released from N-Reed's grip, he turned in time to see N-Reed shoot up into air like a bat. Panic rising within him, Reed made a move to escape the path of the oncoming serpent tail when his joints locked in place. _What the hell?_ Reed barely had time to look down at his paralyzed legs before the tail slammed into his body.

A strangled cry was torn from his throat as he went soaring through the air. When he came down he tumbled across the street like a doll. He came to a stop underneath a street light. His body screamed out with agony, his shoulder blade's felt as though they had been crushed.

A involuntary cry of pain emitted from Reed as he fought to keep his body was curling up into a ball. _Where was everyone?_ Where had Sue and Johnny vanished, why hadn't Ben tried to help him? Reed's finger nails scratched at the asphalt beneath him, tears sprung from his eyes and ran down his face. The pain was unbearable.

* * *

The monster growled in satisfaction of his word before burrowing underneath the ground toward Ben. The Thing shook his head of the fogginess that was invading his blue eyes. His senses were on alert immediately when the earth beneath shuddered. He watched in alarm as the ground beneath him cracked, with a grunt the man jumped to his feet immediately. The creature sprung from the ground quicker than Ben could react to its presence, it scooped the thing up into his clawed hands. Ben let out a cry of astonishment. This thing meant to eat him! "Ah no, not today!" He growled balling his hand into a fist. The Thing punched the monster in the face as the creature opened his mouth and lunged forward. Ben caught its jaw's mere inches away from his face, his stomach lurched at the foul smell that irradiated from its mouth.

"Jeez, ever herd of breath mints?" His rock-ish muscles were beginning to feel the strain of holding its jaws open. Ben raised his arms upward just a little more. A growl emitted from the creature's mouth, using his other hand it smashed Ben between his hands. The Thing's hands struggled to keep themselves on the creature's mouth, he could feel it teeth brushing against each other. He swore he could feel blood running from the cracks of his fingers. The beast applied more pressure against the man, the skin around its mouth curled upward in a devious way.

As it began to press harder against the ogre a burning sensation in its mouth erupted. The beast let out a wail of pain when it was bombarded by the white hot pain once again, it released Ben from its grasp. The Thing grabbed a hold of its claw and hurtled himself forward. The creature opened its eyes just in time to see a pair of fists slam him in the head. Ben watched the creature swayed back and forth. Its eyes rolled into the back of its head and with a low moan the beast fell to the ground with a thunderous _thump!_ Ben landed in a crouched position with a grunt, a grin plastered on his lips. Brushing his hands off, Ben stared into the distance as the smoke cleared around the fallen monster.

"I told ya I could ace that lizard Sue!" Johnny's voice roared triumphantly above him. Ben cast his gaze upward. Hovering above him was Johnny and Sue, both looking bewildered but relieved nonetheless. "Hey, where have you two been?" He shouted up to them. Sue looked down past her hovering shield with a weary smile on her lips. "We just got back from sight seeing on the ocean front, I guess," Sue replied dryly.

Sue lowered herself to the ground alongside her brother. Sweat covered her face. It was obvious that she had been straining her energies. "Ben, where'd our fearless leader go?" Johnny found himself asking. Ben blue eyes widened, Reed! He had totally forgotten about Reed! Sue saw the look on her friend's face, she began to fear the worse. "Last I saw 'em he was on that ugly thing," Ben uttered quietly. Johnny's gaze shifted to the fallen beast. "Has anybody tired those doohickey-hickey's Reed put in our uniforms?" He asked. Ben and Sue looked to each other in question, they were silent for a while longer before something in their minds snapped. Of course, what an elementary question!

Even if that thing swallowed Reed, the tracker would've let them know if their leader was dead. Four crests on their suits had wired within them a monitor that tracked their vital signs. Johnny gave the four on his chest a tap, the four illuminated instantly and displayed a map of New York on the ground below. Sue and Ben crowed around the youngest teammate, they focused their attention on the blue dot blipping erratically on the map several feet away from the three blue still dots in the middle of the downtown area. Sue's heart skipped two beats in relief, Reed was still alive.

"He's not far, thank goodness," Sue whispered. "I'll go ahead first, Ben you follow behind me. Johnny you go topside and let us know when your at _least_ close enough to see him." Johnny nodded his head. With a wink his body was engulfed in fire. He soared above them keeping in sight, Sue and Ben bolted forward their feet carrying them as fast as they could.

* * *

Negative-Reed landed next to the fallen Mr. Fantastic, his pale brown eyes examining him like one would examine a organism under a microscope. "I was like you once upon a time," N-Reed sighed circling the man. "So full of life, eager on discovering other worlds, curing the world of illness and so forth. I lost everyone close to me because of my constant need to know everything. Sue, Johnny, Ben, Franklin, Valeria. My sisters, all them." Reed's ears perked slightly at the sound of two unfamiliar names, in the background he could faintly hear Ben fighting for his life against the serpent creature. Negative-Reed kneeled down to Reed's level, his face grim with ghostly grief and anger.

"I never did cure sicknesses of the world. I ended up with no one. I lived alone in the Baxter Building for years and when I heard that Victor Doom wanted my help in creating an dimensional travel machine he had been working on for years, I jumped at the chance at helping him. With both our genius minds combined it took only seven years to get it complete and running. Victor and I had volunteered to venture into through the machine without even once testing it. I had objected having second thoughts, but Victor being the man that he is told me not to worry so I didn't. It was a reckless move on both our parts. Something I would live to regret."

A pause. "Victor activated the machine and the next thing I know our bodies were bombarded high levels of radiation via _cosmic energy_. I awakened someplace different with severe burns to my body which I soon discovered was horribly deformed . . . I had to drag the my body across the park back to Doom Enterprises. I was told The machine malfunctioned and blew up two seconds later, Victor was dead. I read most of 20-30 years of my life gaining control of my altered body and rebuilding the dimensional machine. I made it work this time and I traveled to another earth. I saw myself and Sue with all our friends, perfectly _normal_, married." N-Reed's eyes locked themselves onto Reed's glazed brown eyes.

"Somehow, seeing that perfect picture of myself caused something in me to snap. I killed them, just like that. And I've spent most of my remaining life, killing my other selves. If _I_ couldn't be happy, none of _them_ were going to be either." Through his pain, Reed found himself pitying the man, though not because of his story. In this _Negative_-Reed he saw what would become of himself he allowed it happen.

This man had destroyed himself by severing ties with all he knew, and recklessly rushed into the unknown and killed himself more times than he cared to know. A spike of pain shivered up his legs and left arm, he bit down on his lip to keep another cry from escaping his body. His brown eyes focused entirely on the man above him. "And what happened to them? Reed and Victor?" He rasped, his voice shaky. Negative-Reed grinned, extending his arm he pulled the long glove off of it and revealed a metallic hand that slowly extended toward Reed. "We're still here, which is more than I can say for you," He chuckled dryly. The man swung his foot at Reed's fading legs, his foot phased through partly before hitting the wall.

Reed gritted his teeth in pain. _Bastard._ Reed swallowed back his disgust when the metallic hand crackled with electricity this was it. Reed gritted his teeth as the ache continued to assault his limbs and body rendering him immobile. The hairs on Reed's neck prickled as if his body could sense the energy around N-Reed's hand grew in strength or so he thought. Reed felt his body go rigid when a familiar touch brush past his intangible arm. In the corner of his eyes he saw the wavering outline of Sue sneaking past N-Reed, he felt the breath in his body leave him when Negative-Reed's boot kicked him in the stomach. "Quit smiling, your about to die," He snapped irritably. Reed gasped outright his chest heaved in and out hard as his lungs fought to regain oxygen.

Negative-Reed's head shift to the left he sniffed the air like a dog, he remained passive until the last moment. His right hand raised swiftly releasing physic energy upon the Invisible woman, Sue raised her shield to protect herself, N-Reed grinned at her. "There's one. Where are the other two?" He mused. A high-pitched whistle made N-Reed's sights shift upward, The Human Torch hovered above them.

"And Ben?" N-Reed asked. Sue did not answer him, glaring she vanished from sight. Negative-Reed watched the damp footprints of Sue walk away from him, no matter. She, unlike the others, could be easily dealt with. He turned his attention back to the man below him, Reed's head was lying against the cool sidewalk, the pain had numbed his arms and legs, his entire body felt overloaded, ready to explode. Running his tongue across his teeth, N-Reed opened his hand and released the electricity from his fingers. Reed flinched at the sound of the electricity surging above him. When he looked up his eyes widened in surprise, the electricity disappeared above him, he had been protected by Sue. Negative-Reed growled in frustration, these interruptions were becoming a great annoyance! The double clenched his fists angrily as he locked gazes with Reed Richards.

He was smiling at him! Negative-Reed raised his metallic fist with every intention of punching through the shield around his double. He was caught off guard when the familiar sting of a bullet hitting his face and shoulder. His looked toward the origin of the fired shots, Enid stood with a pistol in hand trembling with fear. Before her Reed II stood with the exact same expression that Negative-Reed wore.

Shock. Sue never bothered to look behind her, clamping her hands on Reed's shoulders she focused her power on his body and Reed vanished from his sight. She felt him jerk in her grasp. "Calm down, it's a new trick I learned," She whispered slinging his right arm over her shoulder. Reed gasped momentarily, he relaxed in Sue's embrace. She was getting stronger than any of them in such a short amount time. Reed felt envious and proud of her at the same time.

_Reed, the dimensional tear is worsening. I can feel it._ Reed's head shot up in alarm at the thought voice of the boy, Reed II. He turned his head in response as Negative-Reed charged forward. Reed II stepped in front of her, his eyes narrowed with determination. Negative-Reed's arms came at him, Reed II blocked the attacker's arms with little difficulty but caused several windows above him to shatter from the sheer energy release from his defensive counters. Enid let out a high-pitched scream, with her arms over her head she ran in the other direction away from N-Reed, leaving the boy that had followed her behind. She had no earthy idea how she had ended up in this area again.

She remembered herself clearly standing at the edge of the New York pier looking for a boat! _You shall not harm the girl,_ Reed II though angrily at the man. N-Reed was oblivious to the message sent in his direction, he went after the girl recognizing her now as his sister. His fingers charged with electricity fired at Enid only to be blocked yet again by Reed II's telekinetic shield. N-Reed sent an attack in the teenager's direction, Reed II was hit square in the chest and thrown off his feet. He soared through the air until he hit far end of the side-walk.

Negative-Reed resumed his pursuit of Enid. Enid screamed even louder thinking the end had come for her when Johnny collided with Negative-Reed. The two tumbled to the ground in a mess of fire and burning clothes. Reed II jumped out of the way cursing. Johnny wrestled to stay atop of the Reed's double who's skin was steadily melting under the smoldering heat of his body, revealing a silvery tinge.

Sue walked over to the approaching Ben materializing into view. "What happened to you Reed?" Ben said, his voice tinged with concern. Reed groaned in pain as Sue handed him over to Ben's care. "Ben take care of him!" She ordered rushing into the fray. Reed rested himself Ben hesitantly, he nodded thanks to his childhood friend. He looked to his right, Enid resided on the sidewalk in a crouching position, arms covering the top of her head shuddering behind a car next to them. Beside her stood Reed II. "Ben . . .," He uttered to his friend.

Ben followed his friend's gaze, he spotted Enid immediately, she being the only person in the city that hadn't gone missing. Ben knew what Reed was thinking, he wanted to get to his sister. Ben shuffled over to the shuddering woman and rested Reed next to her. He hated waiting on the sidelines. Reed's double was going to get a trashing for what he did. Reed watched his friend move swiftly from his side into the battle. His brown eyes shifted towards his legs. Though barely visible to him anymore he still felt them as if were solid and it sight.

His left arm was fading in the same way too. Reed's stomach twisted in knots as his eyes met his sister's blue ones, she swallowed against her dry throat as she lowered one arm from off her head. Spasms of pain radiated through Reed's body and he fought his hardest to ignore them. _Reed, we must do something about this soon._ The boy's voice echoed in his head. Reed swallowed against the bile rising in this throat, he nodded his head towards the boy. "If I'm correct, then another funnel should form soon. Its been long enough," Reed whispered. Enid paled at the thought of another one of those horrible things coming down on them again, she gasped when she felt her brother's hand gasp her forearm.

"Enid, I need you get to the Baxter Building. Stay there until all this is over." The pressure on her forearm let her know that Reed was serious in what he was saying to her. Swallowing roughly the young woman nodded her head in response. Sticking her hand into her bag she pulled out a pair of thin oval shaped glasses. Reed stared up at her in question and was quiet taken aback when she slipped them onto his nose. "So I know your '_my_ _brother'_, if you live through whatever all this is," Enid whispered shakily. Reed nodded his head, he was thankful that the lenses weren't magnifying. _Reed, you stay here. If that funnel is coming down any time soon, it may be possible for you ride it back to your dimension._ The boy gave the scientist a cynical stare but nodded his head nevertheless. "When I give you the signal . . ." Reed flashed his fingers at Enid. ". . . . I want you to run as fast you can. Don't stop for _anything_."

Sue grinned at the rush of excitement pulsing through her body as she charged one of her offensive shields. Johnny was sent tumbling across the road, N-Reed pushed himself on his feet with a aggravation, his gaze was fixed on Sue. Sue fired her attack at the man, Negative-Reed allowed himself to be overtaken by the oncoming force; The shimmering blue shield hit him dead on, he stumbled backwards with a breathless gasp. He hadn't expected such strength coming from her! "Hey, metal mouth!" Johnny's voice caused N-Reed to turn his attention towards the younger man. Johnny fired a barrage of fireballs in the double's direction, N-Reed dodged most of them, but took the brunt of the latter attacks in the face. If he could feel pain he would've cried out as he listened to his skin burning away. N-Reed felt flakes of his hair flutter down onto his hand.

That bastard! He thought stamping out the fire on his head. Johnny watched in satisfactory the enemy stamp out the remaining fires on his body, he ignored the warning glare Sue was giving him. N-Reed was still alive even after he burned him, he'd think Sue would be slightly thankful that he didn't _kill_ him. "I did not appreciate that," Negative-Reed growled. Sue fell back into her defensive stance, Negative-Reed's arm extended quickly at Sue, the Invisible woman cried out in surprise, Reed grinned wickedly tightening his grasp over the woman. Without the use of her hands Sue was helpless, powerless against him. "Let Sue go, Reed!" Ben roared from behind. Negative-Reed jumped out of the way of The Thing's fist, while still in mid-air his leg shout of and kicked Johnny in the chest. The Human Torch soared away from them, hitting the ground seconds latter.

Negative-Reed landed on the ground with a grunt, Ben took another chance and launched himself at the man. Sue let out a yelp of surprise when Reed's arm brought her forward, The Thing's posture faltered completely. "BEN!" She screamed. Ben saw no way out of hitting Susan head on with his body, she would crushed from the sheer impact. Sue fought desperately to wriggle her way out of the man's grasp. None of them expected what happened next. Ben was shoved hard to the side, he crashed through a store window. Sue and Negative-Reed shifted their gazes to the right. Reed stood atop the car he had been hiding behind, his arms recoiling back to their normal state. "Put Sue down, _Reed_," Reed snarled. Sue's head jerked in surprise when she spotted Enid leaping from behind the car, the girl ran like the wind down the sidewalk.

Negative-Reed payed no heed to the girl as he was much too focused on the man across from him. He'd deal with her later. "Make us," N-Reed responded in a childish tone. Sue bit down on her lip when N-Reed's arm tightened around her, Reed glared angrily. He could attack his other self with nothing but brute strength, he knew that. But if this man was anything like himself he would be excepting that, perhaps more. Reed spotted Johnny in the corner of his eye rising from the ground, blinking he focused his attention on Ben who was silently making his way out of the store through the broken window. Focusing his eyes on N-Reed with a weary grin, Reed jumped from the top of the car onto the ground.

"This is your last warning _Victor_, put Sue down," Reed said. The part of N-Reed's face that had not been burned off by Johnny's fire twisted in obvious disgust. Sue's eyebrows raised at her ex-boyfriend in question, why had he called Reed _Victor?_

The Thing came barreling down the sidewalk at the other Reed. N-Reed glanced sideways at the ogre in annoyance. _Stupid rock,_ He thought. Sue braced herself upon feeling herself being throttled toward Ben. The window of opportunity presented itself to Reed in that moment. Sue felt her acceleration come to a stop, she grunted when she felt Negative-Reed's arms being loosening around her body. Shaking her hair out of her eyes, she focused her attention on wriggling out of the other Reed's grasp. Ignoring the pain rising in his arm Reed pushed his double's arms toward his friend. "Ben, grab her!" He shouted. Ben grasped Sue's arms and hoisted the woman into his own. Negative Reed twisted his arms around his double's extended arms, Reed found himself being pulled towards his double. "Jo-Johnny!" The Human Torch looked up from regaining composure his eyebrows raised in question.

Negative-Reed tightened his grip around Reed's arms. "Flame on . . . already. Hit Reed," Reed tugged against the binding hold on his arms while trying to keep his feet from sliding any further. Johnny ignited one of his hands, his brow knitted together in question; He knew which Reed he was supposed to hit, but he wasn't so sure he wouldn't miss _Reed_ himself with the two of them twisted up like they were. Bringing his arm back Johnny focused his energies into the palm of his hand, swinging, the young man fired.

The torrent of fire hit its target dead on, Reed balled his hands into fists to avoid being burned, he could feel the grip on his arms loosening greatly. Johnny continued to pummel Negative-Reed with his attack, N-Reed seemed to submit to the strength of the attack, he fell to his knees. Reed moved out of way the way once his arms were freed. "Johnny, let up, I said hit him, not kill him!" He shouted to his partner. Johnny burned the man for a second longer before finally letting up his hand went numb by the time he put the fire on his arm out.

Negative-Reed huffed as he peeled his warped hands off the concrete, his eyes widened in shock when he brought them up to his face. His fingers fell back like melting butter. His human skin was gone now, his metallic skin was dripping to the ground. His hair was completely gone, leaving nothing but the shining baldness of his skull. His suit had barely stood up to the beating he gotten from The Human Torch. Most of the uniform was missing on the right side. Reed could feel his entire body giving way from the heat he had been exposed to, he couldn't even push himself up to stand without slipping in a puddle of his own body. The man let out a feral howl of disgust. Sue looked on, a mixture of disgust and pity twisting inside her.

What had Johnny done? _The same thing that man would've done given half the chance,_ Her mind retorted. Sue shook her head, her eyes wandered over to Johnny who was standing next to Reed now. Her brother appeared to regret his decision, if not the condition of their enemy. Her blue eyes wandered over Reed's body; his arms seemed to hang lower than should've, it was first time she noticed that his body was beginning to look ghost like. His legs were transparent, his middle section was fading in and out solidity, and his right arm was only visible because he was wearing the uniform and glove. "Oops," Johnny muttered finally. Reed shot the man a look.

Negative-Reed licked his lips to rid himself of the chapped feeling on them. He was met with a mouthful of melted skin, which he promptly spat out from his mouth, his pale brown eyes watched the silvery liquid seep into the cracks of the street, much like his hands were doing. The skin continued to drizzle down his face like sweat into his eyes, blinding him. Negative-Reed raised his drooping arm up as best he could, his fingers to drip away to nothing. "He- help me, please," N-Reed begged. Reed Richards looked down at the pitiful excuse for a human being in uncertainty. The outcome of Johnny's assault was expected to be something like this; If his double was anything like a mixture of himself and Victor, then the Victor part of him was sure enough of himself to believe his body could withstand the heat of Johnny's fire. Reed himself was banking on it, but now he found himself doubting his decision to tell Johnny to attack.

Negative-Reed's body shouldn't be deteriorating like it was, it wasn't supposed to! Reed forced himself not to look in the eyes of enemy as he watched the man on the ground behaving like a dying animal. Sue looked on in suspicion, she could see through Reed's steely gaze that he was considering to assist the man on his knees. She felt her eyebrows twitch when Reed's hand move forward. "I don't get it, Reed," Ben grumbled stepping off the curb."Why don't you let the kid finish him off?" Reed's narrowed eyes at his friend, Ben glared back as if he were challenging his friend's authority. Sue placed a hand on Ben's large fist, she sent the man cautious look.

Ben settled down slightly folding his arms across his chest, Sue sent Reed a pleading look. "Don't do it Reed," She mouthed to her ex-boyfriend. Reed felt swallowed against the tightness in his throat, his Adams apple hurt like hell. Negative-Reed also had the pleasure to see the small gesture of his double's hand, a ghost of a smile appeared on his melting lips. His head bowed down quickly causing Reed and Johnny to jump back, falling into defensive poses. N-Reed's head rose, his pale brown eyes were wide with trepidation. "Please, I don't know what came over me. It was Victor, all Victor.

He was controlling my body, I had no control over myself. Honest!" Negative-Reed whimpered pathetically. What little of his face that could be seen showed genuine truth and terror. Reed lowered his arms slightly in surprise, Johnny grasped Reed's wrist wearily, Reed looked to his comrade in slightly question. His brown eyes screamed, 'He's telling the truth!' Johnny however, didn't believe him for a second. He himself was a excellent liar to everyone except those who knew him personally. He knew a lair when he heard one. "Don't believe this guy Reed. He's lying!" Johnny hissed.

Reed seemed to come to his senses, he looked down at his other self whose truthful gaze didn't seem so convincing now. A low rumble of thunder caused the foursome to cast their gazes upward. Negative-Reed felt his spirit rise at the team's distraction, raising his hand he focused his strength on solidifying it. He let out a soundless sigh when his hand returned to normal and mobile, his gaze locked on Johnny and Reed instantly. _Fools,_ N-Reed thought in triumph.

As he rose from the ground, the melted parts of his body levitated into the air like rain drops in reverse, pulling together they reformatted themselves on his shoulder. His molted skin managed to regenerate most of its appeal again, in the reflection of his sliver hands, he could see most of his Reed-ish face had returned though there were still spots of metallic skin showing through. His fingers became molted into one like a spearhead, he aimed for Johnny's face unaware that his rise did not go unnoticed. Ben removed his attention from the disturbed sky in time to see N-Reed's arm throw back.

Lunging forward The Thing pulled the man into a choke hold, never once questioning the man's reconfiguration. Johnny, Reed, and Sue shifted their sights to their struggling friend, their eyes wide with shock. "What the - he's whole again!" Johnny blurted in disbelief. Negative-Reed grinned in response. Inhaling, he slipped out of Ben's grasp.

The tiro leaped back, N-Reed's hand lashed out at Sue who effectively blocked it with her shield, the man had wrapped himself around Ben's legs now. Ben let out a yelp when his feet were pulled from under him. Out of pure rage, Negative-Reed pounded his fists against Ben's rock hard body. Sue charged at him, her hand primed with enough energy to send him tumbling in Reed and Johnny's direction, Negative-Reed raised his head in acknowledgment and a ripple effect appeared around his body. Sue found herself being thrown back away from the man like she had been hit by Ben himself. Her back collided with the wall, her body hit the ground hard. Negative-Reed turned and glanced at the two remaining team members standing. Without warning, Reed and Johnny found themselves thrown back hard against the car behind them. Reed felt a harsh burning in his throat, the man promptly spat whatever had invaded his mouth, crimson liquid flew from his lips onto the ground below.

N-Reed continued to attack Ben, who found himself unable to move a muscle. Johnny and Reed crawled away from the doppelganger their backs aching with pain. Reed assisted the young man up to his feet as he stood upright. "I'm okay," Johnny groaned pushing the man away. Reed stumbled backward, his back threatened to bend forward, he managed to keep himself up right. "Uh, Reed, you might wanna step out of way," Johnny warned a few seconds later. Reed stepped back quickly just as Johnny's body burst into flames, he watched his friend shoot up into the air ready his arm to attack.

Negative-Reed glanced upward as well, the wheels turning in his head. He had a fairly simplistic way of ridding himself of the boy above, it would have to do since there wasn't a lot of time left before his body would deteriorate once again. His arm shot up into the air and snagged the Human Torch by the ankle, Johnny cried out in surprise firing a fire ball down in the villain's direction. Negative-Reed dodged the attack with a simple duck, yanking hard, Negative-Reed pulled Johnny from the sky. Reed unmentionable winced at the sound of Johnny's body hitting not the ground, but one of Sue's shields that she placed underneath her brother. Johnny's cry of almost exaggerated pain reached everyone's ears.

Reed glanced down at Ben who had not risen from the ground yet. Reed wouldn't say it was for his lack of trying; Ben looked as though he were pinned to the ground by an invisible force. Sue had vanished from sight, so he wasn't sure what she was doing, Johnny was on the ground moaning in pain, and he was the odd number left out. Reed thought frantically of what to do.

Brute strength was never his strong point, being shoved in lockers or dunked in toilets and withstanding it daily was strong as person like him got in his youth. Ben had taught him some defensive moves, but he had never used them since he was always much faster at running away from danger. Reed was snapped out of his thoughts by a choking sound, snapping his head in the direction of his the sound, Reed spotted Sue on the ground coughing and rasping. Faint traces of green mist evaporated into the air, not giving the scientist enough to time to assess what had occurred during his absence. And without thinking Reed found himself literally jumping into fray, thankfully Negative-Reed was distracted enough by Sue's ailing that he didn't see Reed come at him until he was atop of him. The two tumbled across the ground like dogs in a battle for superiority, Reed currently had the upper hand.

They came to an abrupt stop, Negative-Reed grunted in pain as his arms were bombarded by sparks of electricity coming from his other self, unlike Ben, he was unable to slide easily out Reed's grasp. "What do you plan on doing, eh? You won't kill me, you made that obvious when held Johnny back," He sneered. Thunder rumbled above them as if to empathize the tensity between the two men, Reed could feel the wind picking up around them. The funnel was about to come down again, probably with enough energy to destroy New York City itself. "Do you even know why this is happening?" Negative-Reed asked. Reed kept his steely gaze steady on the man below, he would not allow himself to falter, not with Reed in his grasp now.

Negative-Reed smiled, causing a slight twitch to occur his double's eyes. Reed felt like he was staring at his reflection unbound by the moment of his body. Negative-Reed was the spinning image of himself, hell, he was him! It was mind boggling how their personalities differed but their exterior was the exact same with the exception of age on N-Reed's side. "Of course I do. I caused this when I activated the I.D.M. machine. _My_ machine caused this when I tried to turn it off, that's why this is happening," Mr. Fantastic snapped. Negative-Reed's eyes glinted with pure amusement.

"Surely, you don't think that ruddy machine caused _all of this damage_ do you? Ha, I thought you were much smarter than that _Reed_," Reed's eyebrows raised in faint doubt, it was all the distraction Negative-Reed needed. Opening his mouth, his throat released the foul breath of his deteriorating insides. Reed let out a gasp of fright and found himself reeling back having got full force of whatever had just came out of his other self's mouth. Reed felt his head start to spin, he crumbled onto top of his double. Negative-Reed sighed casually pushing Reed off of him. He stood up slowly sensing young man was losing whatever solidity it had.

Johnny's fire had done more to him than he let on; His body, infused with the ever slow mutating body Victor Doom's was battling to keep the metallic organism that threatened give way alive within him. Groaning he whipped the sweat forming on his face away with the back of his hand, his pale brown eyes fell upon the slightly still Reed. Leaning over some he said, "Feeling any muscle cramps? Tightness around the lungs? That's natural, the toxin in my breath does that. It only takes a few moments for your lungs to become completely unresponsive. I relish at the thought of your slow death." Reed glared at his double who smiled down at him, trying his best to keep his legs from curling against his stomach.

_Some sort of toxin that paralyzes the nervous system_. He thought. _I hope Sue didn't get the brunt of it like I did_. Reed's eyes wandered the limited space he could see. If he remembered correctly, Reed II was probably still hiding behind the car. _Reed, Reed can you hear me?_ He used what little energy he hadn't focused on moving into the message. There was a long lingering silence, Reed feared the boy had ran off with his sister during the confusion. _I can hear you Richards - I mean Reed. The funnel won't be too long away now. I can feel a pull in the air. I am going home!_ The excitement in the boy voice non-voice caused guilt to run through the man. _Reed can you still use telekinesis?_ He asked. _Of course. I've been practicing behind this vehicle. I can lift two slabs of concrete from the ground. Quite easily really._ Reed blinked rapidly as he felt Negative-Reed walk over his body and grab his wrist. Reed felt himself being pulled into an upright position, he forced himself not look into his double's eyes, breathing was quickly becoming difficult now.

Negative-Reed hoisted the younger man over his shoulder, unable to push aside the thought of Reed being something like a life-sized doll. That thought came up randomly whenever he met his countless other selves that were paralyzed by his gaseous breath. Shrugging he began to walk down the street. Reed let out a wheezing groan of panic as he watch the street moving beneath him.

_Reed? Are you still there?_ The innocence and fear in the boy's non-voice was evident. Forcing another breath from his body, Reed worked desperately to clear his rapidly fogging mind. _Reed, can you lift weight over 162 pounds?_ Reed felt a spike of surprise run through his mind, clearly indicating the boy was shocked at the request. _What for? Are you in some sort of danger?_ Reed II asked, bewildered. Reed wished at that moment he could make of face, his lungs tried painfully to inhale. _What kind of question is that? Of course we are! Haven't you been paying attention to anything going on outside your hiding place!_ Reed shouted angrily in his mind. _I'm afraid not. I've been focusing my attentions on Enid and my powers. She is safely within the Baxter Building._

Reed groaned lowly as he felt Negative-Reed's body rise from the ground, Reed's heavy eye lids forced themselves open wider. They were flying! Reed II looked up from behind the car spotting the two ascending higher into the air. His place forgotten, Reed II rushed out into the open. Raising his arms upward, his t-shirt's sleeves became his original outfit made of nothing but lightweight fabric made to cover vital parts of his body. The fabric shot through the air like two living snakes that were quick to wrap themselves around Negative-Reed's ankles. Reed II yanked hard on the fabric. N-Reed grunted in surprise his eyes glancing downward. The boy, he had totally forgotten about the boy! Keeping one arm steady on Reed's body, he turned in the air with ease and grabbed one of the fabrics on the boy's under outfit. Reed II cried out when spikes of pain hit his arms and abdomen, he staggered backward his fingers moving to clutch his stomach when the tips of his fingers brushed against something sharp ended.

Reed II stared down, his eyes went wide with shock at the sight of small jagged pieces of metal sticking out of various regions of his stomach. Pain was something he was unaccustomed to, even during the training sessions with Johnny and Ben, he flawlessly guarded himself from pain by direction their punches and kicks toward either each other or empty space. He entire defense relied on his telekinesis to protect him. Small trickles of blood drizzled out of the holes in his stomach, black blotches invaded his sight as felt his legs to limp beneath him. _I'm beginning to see why Ben wanted me to depend on other things besides my mental power._ The boy fell onto his back, feeling numb all over with pain. Negative-Reed blinked indifferently at the bleeding boy. Turning around he continued into the sky. Reed could barely flex his fingers now, breath passed through his lips in tiny wisps now. Reed felt his eye lids sagging over his eyes the higher up they got, Negative-Reed could feel his counterpart's stomach barely moving against his shoulder now, a smile cross his lips. Pausing in mid-air he pulled the man from off his shoulder, holding him up by the neck of his uniform's collar.

There was no sign of breathing any longer in the scientist, Negative-Reed frowned in disappointment. Lowering himself to the ground, he glanced behind him, Ben laid on the ground still restrained by his physic binding and Johnny was too dazed from the crash to move. Sue, again, was no where to be found. No matter, she couldn't stop him anyway. N-Reed dropped the man's body, he rubbed his temples wearily as he gazed skyward. The black clouds were swirling downward toward them, far off in the distance Negative-Reed heard the lightening crash against a building. The air was growing colder by the minute, rubbing his hands together he advanced down the street with the wind nipping at his hair. He paid no attention to the awkward movements of Reed's seemingly lifeless body, he didn't have to. He had beaten them all now, it was time to move on to the next world. Negative-Reed's eyes darkened at the sight of strong beams of light came raining down from behind the black clouds.

Sue cradled Reed's limp body with one arm, the other was steadily rubbing his face, trying to get any kind of reaction out of the scientist. A momentary twitch of the hand caused her invisible body to reel back in surprise, her large blue eyes focused on Reed's arm. His fingers clawed at the ground beneath him as if trying to relieve a great pain within him, a mixture of surprise and weariness in form of a groan escaped the man's barely open lips. Sue squeezed Reed's hand gratefully smothering a laugh. "I thought you were dead!" She hissed at him, unable to hide her joy. Reed's eyes opened slowly the feeling returning to his body. Sue watched him flex his fingers and move his eyes about him. He locked gazes with the blonde and smiled bitterly. "So did I," Reed answered back, truthfully. "I stopped breathing, I swear I did."

Sue didn't even want to think about it, she felt his body go rigid beneath her knees. He was gaining control of his body. Suppressing a groan the man attempted to push himself up onto his feet, Sue helped in what way she could. Reed felt his arms pulling themselves back into correct length, his head spun for a brief second. "I think you body has a resistance to poisons," Sue's hand gripped Reed's right arm tightly in mild astonishment and concern. Reed flexed his arms and legs a few times to make sure everything was in working order. He stared at his left arm in particular, it was more see-through than before. Sue smiled faintly. "I think its your turn to go under your bio-scanner."

Reed shuddered in the exact same way Johnny had when he had ordered the young man to the bio-scanner. Johnny got back at him by burning holes into the machine's structure. Sue gave him a look. "What? Out of all us, you're the only one who hasn't gotten a scan." Reed nodded his head wearily, his eyes focused immediately on Negative-Reed's body. Something had to be done about him.

"Sue? Can you do me a favor?" Reed murmured. Sue felt her back stiffen slightly at the tone of his voice, her eyebrows raised in question while her eyes wandered his relatively blank face. Reed turned to face her, his brown eyes glistening with hardened determination through the lenses of his glasses, that had amazingly stayed on his face through his torment. "I know your not the type to take orders but, I need you to get Ben and Johnny to the Baxter Building," Reed said. Sue felt as though she had been slapped, was he was actually implying that she and the others run for their lives while he did something absolutely stupid in their absence.

"What? No, no! Reed, I am not leaving you!" Sue snapped irritably. Reed felt his brow crease with frustration, this was not going like he had it planned in his head. _Most of the time nothing does,_ He thought. Reed's ears perked up at the mental response. Reed II! Where was Reed! His head darted around like a nervous rabbit, there was no sign of the boy anywhere! Turning to Sue, he grabbed the woman's shoulders.

"Sue, where's Reed?" Reed blurted nervously. Sue shook her head at first not understanding what he had meant, it only took a second later for it to sink in. "Oh, the kid!" Sue's face paled slightly. "Reed there's something you should know. . ." Her head turned to the severely dented car across from them. Reed wasted no time looking, he rushed forward. Sue's hand slid across his hand she tired desperately to hold onto, it slipped out of her grasp like it had been lathered in oil. Sue stared down at her hand in question, there was nothing out of the ordinary on it but the bruised skin of her palm. She watched Reed's retreating back for a moment before shifting her gaze toward Negative-Reed, who seemed oblivious to the world around him, his attention completely focused on the funnel that was charging itself up for the final blow to the city.

Reed jumped onto the sidewalk, expecting to see Reed II staring at him with his usual thoughtful expression. Instead he found a boy lying up against the dented car, several jagged pieces of metal sticking out of his stomach, unmoving. Reed's stomach lurched at the sight, kneeling down beside the boy Reed grasped his shoulders lightly. He did not move nor response to the man's touch, Reed bit down on his lip as he reached over to check his pulse, there wasn't one. Reed's lungs stung horribly, tears ran down his face as he shook his head in denial.

_I am going home!_ The words repeated in Reed's head like it were sound bouncing off the walls of an empty room. Unbidden tears continued to roll down his face, Reed furiously whipped his face to keep it dry, the tears deterred his effort sadly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Reed whispered furiously at himself. "I'm so sorry, Reed." But Reed II did not answer back, not a whisper of breath left his mouth. If only he hadn't asked Reed for help, he'd still be alive and eager to go home. It wasn't right that he was holding this dead body in his arms and there was no . . . . occupant. . . Reed's eyes widened.

. . ._ I have no actual body, I simply borrowed this form with the use of your DNA. . . ._ Reed's heart thumped wildly in his heart. He gazed down at the body that was now decaying in his arms, Reed closed his eyes at the prickle of skin that brushed against the corner of his eyes, he could feel the harsh wind blowing away the ashes of the body. When he opened his eyes there was nothing left of Reed II but the ashes left resting in his hands and the white light that hovered in front of him. Reed's wet eyes watched the light rise to the level of his face, it seem to regard him. "Reed . . .?" He murmured.

The light got brighter and hovered down into the palm of his hand. Reed felt his fingers closing into a fist, he grunted in resistance at the sensation of his fingers pressing on his palm. A shudder escaped his lips when a jolt of energy raced up his right arm, what had that boy just done? "Reed . . . I'm sorry," Sue's words seemed to push the knife deeper into his chest. Shaking his head he stood up to meet Sue's sorrowful blue eyes. "Don't be Sue," He said pushing past her. Sue followed closely after him, worry welling up inside of her. Reed walked against the wind that blew hard against him, Sue fought to keep her hair out of her face as she walked behind Reed.

"Reed, Victor!" Mr. Fantastic shouted over the howling wind. Negative-Reed turned in response, his eyes lazily looking over Reed to Sue. The woman glared back at him, her face becoming transparent. "Its _Reed_," Negative-Reed said turning around. Reed glared at the man across from him, his stomach twisted in knots at the sound of the man chuckling. "What do you want?" N-Reed muttered. In such a moment like this the words 'revenge' would've sounded appropriate, but Reed couldn't bring himself to say it. There was nothing to avenge except Reed II's death, and even if he did, it wouldn't be revenge per say. Negative-Reed glanced up at the sound of thunder rumbling through the air, before any of them blinked lightening came down swift and sure. Concentrating all her power, she raised shields over Johnny, Ben, Reed and herself. Reed winced when the lightening struck Sue's shield, he turned hearing her groan. "What is it?" He said hastily. Sue shook her head, sweat rolled quickly down her face.

"Nothing - its, I'm beginning to feel the lightening. At first I couldn't," Sue explained. Reed's arm raised automatically when another bolt of lightening came down harder than the last one, Sue wasn't going to stand much more if this kept up like it was. "I hate to complain, but I'm not gonna be able to keep this up for long." Reed automatically grinned at her words. Negative-Reed remained where he stood, the lightening seemed to be dodging him on purpose, either that or he was using whatever physic ability he had been using against them.

There wasn't much he could do to help Susan, unless being hit by lightening counted for something in the help department. Negative-Reed jumped into the air as the funnel came rushing downward, he was careful to keep his distance. "Oh shit," Sue heard Reed mutter. Sue looked past Reed's shoulders, the Negative-Zone's funnel hit the ground with enough force that it shattered everything made of glass, Reed's head darted from left to right watching the pieces of glass rained onto the ground. He looked toward Johnny and Ben, their shields were still up. The ripple effect Reed spoke of, emitted from the funnel, came at their shield with relentless force in the form of a shock wave. The scientist looked to his ex-girlfriend.

Sue's arms were slowly falling from their place in the air, a steady dip of blood ran out of Sue's nose onto her lips and uniform. Reed grunted when an invisible force hit him dead on in the shoulder, he fell to his knees in pain, his hand gripped his throbbing left arm. Sue's arms fell to her sides, her shield had finally given out. She fell to the ground zapped of her strength. Another shock wave erupted from the illuminated funnel, Reed knew if they were hit by that thing they would end up like everyone else in the city that was around when the lightening storm and funnel appeared.

Moving quickly, he wrapped his right arm around the barely conscious Sue, his left arm shot up and grabbed the edge of the closest building he could find. Reed hoisted them up with a mighty push off the ground. Reed briefly relished in the air above rushing against his hot and sweaty face. Mr. Fantastic soared over the edge of the building and landed in a crouched position on the roof top, his legs felt worse than worn out rubber bands when he released the breath he had been holding in his chest.

Slowly he retracted his left arm biting down on his lip, it felt like it was resisting his command. Carefully he lowered his arm that held Sue in its possession, the woman's limbs hung lifelessly in the air indicating that she was still unconscious. Reed rested on the surface of the roof with a sigh. The nose-bleed had stopped, her was still contorted with stress. Reed's chest heaved in relief, she was all okay. Reed stood up rushing over to the edge of the building. His eyes scanned the streets below but there was no signs of Johnny or Ben. _Damn_.

Reed's lips pursed together in frustration, they must've gotten caught in the shock wave, either that or they were dead. "Not something I really want to believe," He muttered to himself. Swinging one leg over the edge of the building, Reed look one look around him. There was no sign of - the air in Reed's lungs was knocked from his body, leaving his thought lingering in the air, knowing who his assailants was, Reed's arms shot out and grabbed a street light. Negative-Reed grinned wickedly at the man's futile effort to slow their fall, he managed to smash his double's body into the ground regardless.

Reed's arms went limp dropping to the floor like dead fish. Negative-Reed grabbed Mr. Fantastic by the neck, lifting him from the ground. "I've seemed to have failed to calculate your body's defenses," He said disdainfully. Reed in spite of his pain grinned at the other Reed, his eyes wandered toward the illuminated funnel across from them. "That makes two of us - ugh!" Reed felt Negative-Reed's fingers sinking into his transparent arm, his teeth grinned together as he retracted his right arm.

Negative-Reed slammed his body into the ground in mid-retraction, Reed cursed through his gritted teeth. Feeling desperation rising up in his clenched neck, Reed aimed his foot right for the low region of his doppelganger, it got a reaction out of him but not the one he wanted.

Negative-Reed glowered at Reed in annoyance and without warning tossed him across the street, Reed tumbled clumsily across the asphalt as he tried to stop himself. Reed cried out when he finally came to a stop. He let out a groan his left arm trembled from the relentless shock that assaulted it, his stomach lurched countless times as he tried to stand himself up. His right hand pressed hard against the hot surface of the street, his body fought hard against his only responsive arm supporting him.

"You disappoint me, Richards," N-Reed sighed, his arm swinging in a circular motion. "I expected you to be more of a challenge. That or something else." Negative-Reed stopped two feet away from the man before him, Reed glanced up at him with regarding eyes. Both of them were torn from their opposition at the sound of steel being crushed under pressure, Reed felt his breath stop short in his sore throat. The shockwave came at them at dizzying speed crushing everything in its path, Negative-Reed shot off into the air to avoid the blast. Reed knew he would be unable to move fast enough to evade it.

Raising his arm he prepared for the worst. The air picked up around him in the most familiar way, Reed's brown eyes widened in shock. The world in front of him rippled like disturbed water. The shockwave hit the invisible shield with enough force to bring a man to his knees. Reed kept his arm steady nevertheless, he vaguely remembered any kind of force hitting him when they were caught in the cosmic storm. Momentary pain, then darkness. Reed could feel a splitting headache coming over him, another dizzy spell hit him temporarily weakening his arm.

And in that second, the ripple effect pierced through the invisible shield like stick pen to paper and attacked its desired target. Reed's body felt like he was being rippled apart on the inside, the pain in his arm expanded through his entire body rendering the scientist unconscious. The last thing Reed felt was the all to familiar sensation of cold spreading through him, then nothing.

* * *

**(TBC)**

* * *

**Author's note:** From here on out its basically nothing but an action romp around the Negative Zone.


	5. Part V: Artibeus

**Part V: Artibeus**

* * *

The first thing Sue became aware of as her mind drifted out of the fog of unconsciousness was the cool surface beneath her. Her hair blew away from her face she rolled onto her back and stared blankly up into the black sky. Sue's hand pressed against her warm forehead her nose was sore from bleeding, it stung to inhale or exhale. Climbing to her feet she examined her surroundings.

She wasn't surprised to say the least to find herself standing on a roof instead of the ground with the others. Every muscle in her body ached whenever she moved, Sue did her best to ignore it.

Limping over to the edge of the roof she peered down the world below, Sue's sight was blinded slightly by the illuminated funnel that seemed to be tunneling its way down into the ground. Sue's brow creased confusion running through her mind. "Reed!" Sue shouted. There was no answer, tucking her hair behind her ears Sue exhaled slowly. All the guys were missing the only thing left in their and Negative-Reed's wake was the serpent creature lying dead on the ground. It would be impossible to scale the face of the building with her strength yet to return to her, taking a look behind her she spotted the exit in the form of a skylight.

Sue grabbed the heaviest piece of dislodged brick she could hold and hurtled it toward the skylight, the glass shattered on impact. Sue grinned wearily and made her way over to the skylight brushing away any jagged pieces of glass away from the frame. Sue lowered herself into the building. Her feet landed on the soft cushions of a antique chair; The room itself smelled musty, ancient almost. Sue was careful not to touch anything that wasn't in her way, she stepped through the unlocked door and dashed down the darkened hallway.

Sue made her way down the stairway to the front door, her breaths came out in short gasps the quicker she went. Sue burst through the open door bounding down the front stairs like a bat out of hell. Raising an arm she tapped the four on her chest.

The holographic map of the city appeared on the ground she ran upon. To her delight there were no red signals that would indicate that the others were dead, but large blue question marks indicating it had no idea where they were. Besides out of range. Sue cursed. She continued onward heading to the Baxter Building. Reed's computer would have a much better time searching for the others than her compact G.P.S.

* * *

"Do you think he's alive?"

"I dunno, try to slap him,"

Silence. A stinging pain.

"_Oho!_ You got a reaction," Came the exuberant response.

Reed's head rolled to the side his entire body felt as though stick pins had been stuck into the deepest regions of his skin. He flinched when a familiar rocky finger pressed against his sore throat.

"I gotta a pulse. Egghead's defiantly alive," _Ben._

"Why do you call him that?" _Johnny._

"What? Egghead? 'Cause its' his nickname," Ben answered rather quickly.

Above the fallen scientist Johnny nodded quickly to his friend, his eyes wandered their new environment with unease. Reed groaned pressing his hand against his pounding head. Slowly he opened his eyes to see if his ears were not deceiving him and the two were in fact who he thought they were. Johnny and Ben hovered over him concern written across their faces, he forced his eyes open a little more. "What happened?" Reed's bewildered voice barely came above a whisper. The duo glanced downward, in an instant relief spread across their faces.

Reed winced when Johnny's hand grasped his left shoulder, Johnny was quick to catch on to his friend's pain and released his shoulder immediately. "Er, sorry about that," Johnny mumbled. "Reed, what the hell happened to you?" Ben's voice was loud and clear in his ears. Reed pushed himself into a up right position. His hand that was pressed against his head suddenly made a move grab his left arm. "Reed?" Johnny said uncertainly.

Reed shook his head standing up, when he swayed Ben was there was to support him. "Easy there, egghead, don't want youse fallin' off the only ground we've got," Ben chuckled humorlessly.

"What?" Reed rasped.

Johnny pointed to the space beyond, Reed's brown eyes shifted to the world outside. His mouth immediately fell open in astonishment.

No longer was he staring into the debris riddled streets of New York, instead there was noting but jagged stones (remnants of planets he assumed), meteors and a black backdrop illuminated by over a billion stars twinkling in the distance. "Great Scott, where are we?" Reed heard himself mutter.

_The Negative-Zone._ "Huh?" Reed muttered at the sound of the voice.

Johnny and Ben gave each other weary looks. "I said, we though you would tell us? Please say you know where we are," Johnny pleaded.

Reed cracked a weak grin at the youngest man, he nodded his head without hesitance. "We're in the Negative Zone," Reed grunted, pulling his glove off.

The skin of his hand was gone but the almost ghostly outline of his hand let him know it was still there: Barely. He swallowed back a groan as a spike of pain traveled up his arm. When the second wave of pain hit him Reed let out a cry of agony.

His knees buckled under him his mind reeling with anger at himself. Ben's large arm wrapped itself around Reed's waist hoisting the man back into a upright position, Reed's head bounced against The Thing's chest.

"Ouch, Ben!" The cry came out in a squeak.

"Sorry about that, egghead," Ben said. Reed nodded his head as dizziness swam in his eyes. He turned his gaze toward Johnny, who looked completely estranged by what he was seeing.

"Johnny, can you still 'flame on'?" Reed asked. "Yeah! And we're in space, or the N-Zone or whatever," Johnny stammered bursting into flames. Reed was glad at the time that he was behind Ben's arm. Though he could still feel the heat it wasn't as bad the last time he stood next to Johnny.

"I need you to -," Reed was caught in mid-sentence. He fell forward thinking his knees would stop his fall (no matter how painful stop it would be) only to find himself faze through the solid ground beneath him. The entire experience terrified the scientist, shook him to the very core of his soul.

"Ben grab his legs!" Johnny's voice was muffled above him, Reed stared into the blackness wide-eyed like a scared child. When he resurfaced he found himself hanging up side down by his ankle like a fish staring into the large blue eyes of both his companions. Reed felt the blood rushing to his head like a response to dreaded feeling that churned inside his stomach. Ben stared back at his childhood friend, flabbergasted by what he had just seen. His mind flashed back to memory of Reed's invisible arm. His eyes narrowed.

"Reed, does this have anything 'ta do with what's happening to your body? And tell me the truth, 'cause I swear if you lie egghead, your gonna wish you hadn't," Ben's voice was malicious.

Reed looked to Johnny who became interested in the ends of his finger tips. Reed was cornered by Ben's hard gaze again. "Put me down, I'll tell you everything I know," Reed struggled to get out. Ben was hesitant for a moment. For he knew that with Reed in this position his friend would either talk or remain resolute in his silence. Ben opted for neither and put the man on the ground, feet first. Reed nodded his thanks to his friend. He proceeded to tell the two of the discovery of his deteriorating body, the grim fate he would meet because his travel through the Negative Zone as explained to him by Reed II. Ben and

Johnny stood their mouths gape with, Reed tried to make himself seem as small as he could without actually shrinking.

Johnny was the first to speak up. "So, your molecules are frying, like a dying planet? You're going to explode?" Johnny said, his hands opening and closing. Reed took his time answering that question, the mental image of himself exploding was disturbing if not scarring.

"I dunno, Johnny," Reed answered, mildly annoyed. Ben's arm shot out like lightening, Reed grunted in alarm as he hoisted from off the ground into the air by the collar of his uniform. "Did you even think about what you were doing when you were messing with this machine! Did you think for one second what this could mean?" Ben shouted.

Reed pulled himself out of Ben's vice grip, tearing the collar of his uniform, he stumbled backward until he was literally standing on the edge of the large chunk of meteor they stood upon with one heel. "Ben, I didn't know any of this was going to happen! You can't blame me for this!" Reed grunted. Ben stepped forward with a less than amused look on his face.

"Sure I can," Ben snapped. The two were face to face, Reed glared back at his friend. Johnny realized that he would have to break up the two of them before it got ugly. _What would Sue do?_ Johnny wracked his brain. Sue would stand between whomever was fighting and use her shields to keep them from each other, Johnny had nothing but fire. "Its better than nothing," Johnny muttered to himself.

He raised his hand in preparation. The Human Torch's eyes reflected in the fire that danced around his fingers. _Talking would be more beneficial_, his better judgement chided the young man. Johnny ignored it and fired upon Ben's head. Ben's head jerk in reaction from the impact of the blast. The Thing turned instantly, glowering. Ben's hand bumped Reed's side, his shoe slipped from the meteor. His arms flailed around him like man trying keep his head above water.

"_Ben! Johnny!_" He cried falling over.

"Oh shit, Reed!" Johnny muttered rushing forward. Ben mimicked the younger man's motion. Ben's hand closed around Reed's only to have it phase right through.

Ben blinked bewildered and afraid. Johnny shot up into the air in all his fiery glory. He dove downward at top speed. When he reached Reed he grabbed his arm and with all the strength in him and threw the man ahead of him. Reed let out a cry of surprise, he barely came up to the top of the meteor when his body began to sink again. His right arm stretched outward his fingers gripped the highest part of the meteor. Reed made sure his grip was firm before attempting to reel himself up.

"Need a lift?" Johnny came up beside his comrade his amused smirk showing through the fire. Reed glanced at his singed sleeve in hesitance. The touch had been brief but hot enough for his skin to feel it through the uniform. "Be quick about it, huh?" Reed said. Johnny did not respond, instead he grabbed Reed by the untouched part of his collar and proceeded up the side of the meteor as fast he could. When he thought he had enough momentum he threw the man ahead of him once more. Reed retracted his arm as soon as the surface of the meteor became visible. As Reed began to fall again his eyes caught sight of something materializing across from the meteor. His mouth hung open in disbelief while his eyes squinted to get a better view. The stars began distorted melting under the heat of the forming portal. "Reed, throw me your arm!" Ben shouted to the plummeting scientist. Reed swallowed against his dry throat, the portal grew in size until it was large enough to fit an entire city block inside of it, the temperature of his body feel like it was rising by the minute.

Reed shaped his limbs so that a bat-like webbing formed underneath his arms and legs, he floated down awkwardly to the meteor. He stumbled toward Ben careful not to fall fearing he would faze through the meteor again. "Whoa there, buddy," Ben said, their previous confrontation was all but forgotten in mind. Reed looked past his large friend, his stomach felt as though it had dropped as his eyes transfixed themselves on the black apparition that oozed out of the portal that was now closing.

Reed's face drained of all its color his damaged glasses fell down his nose. The large mass of black smoke swirled in a chaotic motion, a pair of glowing eyes were the first to form, next were the legs and arms. The rest of the body molded itself into a hardened physique, muscles rippling across its abdomen, arms, and legs last. Its head was obscure mass of black flames that danced around the black eyes. Color appeared on its body, red and gold armor hardened itself around its chest and legs in the mold of its muscles.

A mask resembling that of the gas masks from world II formed around his face, leaving almond slits for its beaming red eyes. Black wings protruded from its shoulder blades spreading to reveal their width. Gloves, and boots appeared his body, following a staff that's length was past his leg. A black Garnet Orb placed at the top swirls of bent steel straddled its top and sides.

"Check out the obvious villain!" Johnny called from above. The Thing turned toward the direction The Human Torch was pointing to. His blue eyes widened at the towering figure standing mere feet away from them.

Reed glanced up at a glaring Johnny. "Johnny, get down here," He ordered.

Johnny looked down at Reed, grinning all the while. "No way, I'm just jonesing for a fight," He retorted.

The shadow glanced up at Johnny with its red eyes. All three men leaned back when it ascended upward. Johnny had provoked it! Johnny's were wide with excitement, his fists pumping.

"Ben, we need to move," Reed's voice was firm. Ben had no qualms with Reed's suggestion, the only problem was that neither of them could fly like the boy above them. "Just how do you plan on getting us off this rock?" Ben snapped irritably at the man. "I'm working on it," Reed's brow creased, his body extended upward for a better view of the world around them.

"No worries, fearless leader, I'll just go and have a chat with him," Johnny replied in mock excitement.

"What - Johnny, stop!" Reed yelled.

The Human Torch ignored his leader, his blood boiled with excitement as he approached the enemy. "Damn it, Johnny get back here!" Reed screamed at the top of his lungs. The echo of a laugh from the young man was his response. Reed lowered himself back down to his normal level, he looked to Ben who simply shrugged his large shoulders. "Nothin' you can do about it, Reed," Ben said lamely.

Reed shook his head as he watched Sue's brother rush head on into a danger that eagerly awaited him. You better not to get killed, Johnny_,_ was the thought that sprang to mind.

The winged assailant did nothing to defend himself when Johnny was close enough to attack save dodge the oncoming fireball aimed at him. Raising his staff the creature's Garnet Orb glowed a bright yellow, when the boy was close enough the staff unleashed a blast that hit him square in the chest. Johnny felt cold spreading into his veins, try as he might he could not keep his fire burning. His joints became numbed by whatever was in that light.

Johnny's eyes roll into the back of his head and his body plummeted. The winged creature caught the young man by the skin of his uniform. Unfurling his wings he soared toward the other two intruders standing deathly still on the meteor. Ben's large hands balled into fists, his teeth pressed together behind his lips. Reed placed his solid hand on his comrade's forearm. "Don't try anything yet, Ben," Reed said in a warning tone. Ben glanced toward his friend, his brow shifting in puzzlement, Reed kept his gaze straight. "Who dare trespass in my realm?" Annihilus bellowed in a lordly voice.

* * *

When Sue arrived at the Baxter Building she had expected to find an empty lobby devoid of life. Instead she found a lobby full of statue like people crowding her path to the stairs. Sue breathed the air cautiously making her way through the people. The hair on the back of her neck for some reason stuck straight up, the very atmosphere felt frozen. Sue's only conclusion was that time had somehow stopped for everyone. She pushed against the door and proceeded up the emergency stairs. Her mind raced wildy at the thought of time stopping like it did. The scientist in her fought to overcome her better judgement, Sue continued onward in spite of curiosity. When she finally reached the level where Reed's apartment resided, Sue rushed inside the apartment.

Out of habit she checked every bedroom in false hope that the trio of men would be there for whatever reason. There was no a soul in Johnny or Ben's bedrooms. Not even in the rooms packed with misc. items from Reed's collage years. Stepping into Reed's bedroom she was not in the least surprised to find the familiar head of thick blonde hair frozen in mid-air, her hands thrown above her head. The look of one of medusa's petrified victims etched in her face. Enid's hair was suspended in the air like it would be in a photo, gracing her plain features. Sue couldn't help the unflinching satisfaction she felt inside herself when looking at Enid. Enid got her just deserts.

Sue's feet were quick to take her into the laboratory. Nothing inside had been touched, there were the occasional paper frozen in mid-fall, Sue examined the closest one with a childlike feeling squirming in her stomach. This was truly an amazing thing to be witnessing, it was like she stood outside the existing time flow inside the building! Sue paused immediately; She was supposed to be locating Reed, Ben, and her brother, not enjoying what was happening around her like it was a science fair. Gathering herself Sue made her way to the computer, she sat down in the office chair. Tapping on the keyboard she watched the screen turn itself on.

Sue removed the four crest from her chest and plugged it into the cords that laid untouched on the counter, punching in the last coordinates she was in she waited for the computer to process the information. Her finger nail tapped unconsciously against her front teeth, she paid no attention to the rising anxiety inside her bosom. Her eyes focused on nothing but the three periods following the 'processing' notice. The silence was unbearable, Sue found herself making noise by shifting loudly in her chair just to block it out the silence.

Finally the unmistakable beep of the computer that indicated it had found its desired targets caused the Invisible Woman to sit straight in the chair. Clicking on the blinking four in the center of the screen Sue watched an incomprehensible map appear on the screen her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. The signals of Reed, Ben, and Johnny appeared on the screen finally. They were somehow or other in contact range, the computer gave no position.

It was better than nothing, she thought wearily tapping on her four crest she watched a dull light blinking behind the four. "Reed, can you hear me? Are you there?" The volume in her voice was loud and clear, the emotion masked by an impassive tone. There was nothing but static for the longest time, Sue had just given up all hope of even hearing her ex-boyfriend. "Uh, Sue?" The hesitance in the voice made Sue's heart skip two beats.

* * *

Annihilus hovered above their heads, Johnny hung motionlessly in his clawed grasp, there was no signs of the man regaining consciousness any time soon. "Trespassing!" Ben snapped angrily. Reed stepped forward, his features hardened at the sight of Johnny hanging by his costume, helpless. "My name is Reed Richards, this my friend Ben Grimm," Reed jabbed his thumb in the direction of his fuming friend. The creature was not impressed by this lowly man below him, his claw tore through the Human's Torch's uniform. He raised Johnny up higher.

"That's Johnny Storm, another friend. We didn't mean to trespass in your realm, we sort of ended up here by accident," Reed explained. The winged man came lower to the ground so that he was at level with Reed. "I am Annihilus, master of this realm," He snapped. Reed's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Master?" He blurted.

Annihilus' head tilted to the side he examined Reed carefully making the scientist uncomfortable. "_Indeed. You _are the energy I felt trespassing in my realm the first time," He drawled in a low hiss, his spit hitting the scientist in the face. Reed kept his temper in check calmly whipping the spit from his face. "Where is the other that came with you?" Annihilus hissed.

Reed shook his head, not understanding."There is no other, just myself, Ben, and Johnny," Reed stammered.

Annihilus scoffed in mockery at the man's words, he could smell uneasiness radiating from his body, a sure sign he was lying. He soared above them once more, Reed and Ben wore identical looks of concern. Annihilus raised Johnny by the neck, the claws sticking out of his gloves trailed across Johnny's skin leaving angry red lines in their wake.

As if acting like a catalyst, Johnny's brow creased, his blue eyes snapped open like had been pulled out of a nightmare. He felt incredibly numb all over but the feeling of someone's hand against his neck was obvious. "I know you lie, human, tell me where the other is or I will cut his throat," Annihilus roared. "There was no one else with us," Reed answered coolly "Let Johnny go."

Annihilus chortled at the scientist in mock-humor, the tips of his nails continued to make long scratches across Johnny's neck.

To Johnny's dismay he was beginning to feel it through the numbness feeling in his body. His eye lids responded to the faint command of his nervous system, closing half way. Ben walked up to Reed, his heart beating hard in his chest.

"Reed, if this is some part of an elaborate scheme, now's the time to let me in on it," Ben said barely above a whisper.

Reed shook his head. "Ben, this no part of any plan, there is no one else that followed me, unless he's referring to the _other_ Reed, but he's dead." Ben's mouth fell open, the kid was dead?

"How?" He questioned. Reed shook his head.

"My double killed him," He paused to take a look around, his lens focused allowing him to see what normal sight would not. Nothing but meteor debris for miles and miles, no signs of other life - Reed's thoughts were stopped short in their process. He tried not to look surprised in front of Annihilus the moment he spotted the very thing he had been searching for.

"What is it, whadya see?" Ben asked, concerned.

"The I.D.M.," Reed whispered breathlessly.

A grin appeared on Ben's face, the faint glow in Reed's pasty complexion agreed whole heartedly. There was a muffled grunt from Johnny that cause both men to turn in response, their minds brought back to the present predicament. "I know what it is you seek, Reed Richards," Annihilus hissed.

"The machine which gives you - _me_ - the means of bridging the gap to your world which was unattainable by simple portal travel until now." The so-called master of the Negative-Zone grinned behind his mask, his canine teeth brushing against each other. Reed glared in response, the heat of rage rose within his chest. "I had not expected that this place would take measures to destroy your realm. Nevertheless, it is but a small setback for me," The winged creature cackled loudly.

He aimed his staff. When Annihilus fired a beam from his Garnet Orb it was not aimed for the meteor as Reed had expected, but Mr. Fantastic himself. Reed frozen where he stood awaiting for the attack to knock him down. The blast fizzled out mere inches away from Reed's face. Annihilus' staff ceased firing on the scientist whom was standing still a stone equally left in a state of disbelief. But for some reason the winged master of the Negative Zone was smiling as he sheathed his staff behind him. Both hands now gripped Johnny's neck.

The boy was now able to move his body, however, the numbness remained in his limbs. His weak fingers fought to pry the vice grip off his neck. "A little help would be nice!" He choked out. Annihilus shook the boy angrily. "Be silent boy!" Another laugh spilled through the mask reaching Ben and Reed. "I knew you were lying, there is another with you. He is what protected you!" He snarled. Reed watched the shield vanished in a rippling effect, he glanced up at the villain with disdain.

"If _he_ is, then I wasn't aware of it," Reed protested strongly. "You think you can continue to fool me with such lies! You are a greater fool than I thought," Annihilus bellowed. "Keep talkin' turkey, I'll pluck your feather's quicker than you can say -."

"Reed, can you hear me? Are you there?" Ben fell silent, Reed's heart pounded harder in his chest. Casting his glance downward he realized that the crest on his chest was blinking. His right hand pressed against the four shakily, his lips parted slowly afraid of the sound that would come out of his mouth. "Uh, Sue?" Reed answered back hesitantly. There was loud exhale on the other line, his mind wondered how Sue was even able to contact them, clear across another dimension.

"Oh, Reed, thank goodness your okay! What happened, where are you? Are Ben and Johnny with you?" Sue voice was laced with panic and relief. Reed made a move to answer the woman with an affirmative, however, a white hot pain distracted him. He felt his body jerk backward, he fell to the ground his head hit the ground. What hit him? Ben grabbed his friend by the arm where the blast from Annihilus' staff had hit his shoulder.

Reed's arm jerked out of Ben's grasp. The wing-creature let out another barrage of attacks from his staff, Ben fended them off easily with the fluid movements of his body that acted as a shield to the fallen Reed. "Reed, get up!" Ben shouted. Reed laid on the ground behind his friend barely flinching when one of the deflected blasts hit close to him.

Sue's panicked voice cried out to him, wanting to know what happened to him. His fingers twitched in rejection to his commands, they tried to curl into his palm in response to the pain in his shoulder. Allowing them his fingers to fall into a fist, he thrust his arm upward and hit his chest. "Uh, Sue!" He sputtered. A few tears even managed to leak out of his eyes, jeez did his shoulder hurt.

"Reed, are you all right!" Sue shouted in relief.

"No, I just got shot," Was his blunt reply.

"What! You're hurt!" Sue's volume got even louder. Reed groaned as he extended his fist over to the four crest again, he swallowed back a cry of pain as the damaged part of his body protested against his movement. Ben couldn't protect him for long, he would eventually -if not sooner- get worn out from blocking Annihilus' blasts with his body.

"Sue, I haven't got much time to talk, so just listen please." He stammered. "On the roof of the Baxter Building there's a vehicle that myself and Ben - well, you'll know it when you see it."

There was no response on the other line, Reed didn't wait for one, gingerly he placed his right hand on the ground ignoring the beams of heat flying past him. Slowly he stood up careful to stay behind Ben as the attacks continued.

Reed locked his gaze on a nicely sized chunk of meteor not to far from where they were, he glanced sideways at Annihilus. His fingers were fighting to stay together as Johnny's numb fingers continued to pry them apart, the villain's focus was completely on the other two and not him.

Swallowing back his panic, Reed watched as his arm wrapped itself around the small chunk of meteor. Pulling against the weight of the meteor, Reed swung his arm in the direction of his foe. The sheer speed of the his arm was enough, the meteor reached its trajectory point. Annihilus was caught completely off guard by the attack, his head was knocked to the side sending him into a tumble. Johnny felt himself falling, he let out a cry of surprise when Reed's arm wrapped around his ankle and pulled him onto the meteor. His bottom hit the rocky surface hard causing Johnny let out a cry pain, Reed retracted his arm. "We can't stay here, we've got to get to the I.D.M.," Reed said hastily.

"That's easier said than done, Reed," Ben gripped. Reed nodded his head, his gaze shifted to the recovering Annihilus. The winged creature placed his hand upon his cracked mask, his red eyes locked on Reed. The scientist tried to pay no mind this and shifted his attention to the grumbling Johnny Storm. "Johnny, I need you to distract Annihilus - don't argue with me - just be weary of his staff this time," Reed commanded.

The Human Torch clamped his mouth shut at the steely gaze his sister's ex-boyfriend's was giving him. Rolling his eyes his gave a half nod. "_Flame on!_" Johnny's body was enveloped in fire once more and he took off towards the enemy.

Ben didn't see the point of even warning hot-head to dodge, he was mostly likely going to be hit by that staff's blast anyhow. "Ben, I need you help Johnny, there's no need for both of us to try and reach the I.D.M.," Ben folded his arms across his chest in objection. "I see plenty point. Ever heard of 'process of elimination'?" The Thing retorted. Reed sighed in frustration as he walked toward the edge of the meteor. The I.D.M. was a pretty good ways off from where he was, there weren't enough meteors between here and now to try and jump across. Bending down Reed wrapped his arm around his legs, concentrating he compressed his body into the size of a basketball. Ben watched with an uneasy stomach as the ball rolled toward him.

"That's just _weird_, Reed," He finished lamely. "I'm not used to it myself," Reed commented sheepishly. "I need you to kick me as hard as you can Ben. You remember how?" There was a tinge fear in the man's voice, Ben couldn't help but grin at the ball below his feet. "Sure, but how is this gonna get you to the machine?" Ben questioned.

"I'll worry about that, just kick me," Reed answered, irritated. Ben sighed and stepped back.

The next thing Reed knew he was soaring through space at top speed. Ben watched his round friend for a minute before turning his attention to Annihilus and Johnny. The young man skillfully dodged every blast from the staff that came at him, everything in his wake was destroyed instead. Annihilus came after Johnny now abandoning his staff. "Yikes," Johnny squeaked out as he dodged the madman.

* * *

Sue ran out of the laboratory as fast as she could her hair throwing itself into her face with every footfall. The welfare of her brother and friends had her mind racing through a panicked blur, Reed was injured and who knows what happened to the others. Sue slid across the smooth floor of the hall, she grabbed the emergency door's handle and flew through the doorway. She hurtled herself up the stairs with the use of the rail. She found herself constantly dodging the bodies of people frozen in time.

It wasn't long before she reached the very top of the stairs, the roof-top entrance was right in front of her. Sue felt a hitch in her breath when she discovered that the lock on the door was broken off. Her eyebrows furrowed, she turned to look behind her. A number of people that were on the stairs probably broke the lock, something inside her said otherwise though. Pressing her hand against the surface of the door she pushed it open, she stared out into the large space of the roof top cautiously.

Stepping out of the building she continued to glance around her environment, she noted that her heart rate was picking up considerably fast. Where was this vehicle Reed spoke of? Sue turned her head to the right, on the far end of the roof there was large object covered in a large canvas tarp. Curious she jogged across the roof until she reached it. The wind could be felt best at the end, she noted. Her hand grasped the end of the canvas gingerly and lifted it off the object, Sue looked away for a moment to the sky, her blue eyes widened in surprise.

Across the city she saw the funnel, twirling furiously in a crooked motion. The canvas slid from off of the large object revealing the frame of a car. Sue jump backed in surprise at the sight of it. It looked just like a standard Ford Van with the exception of it being a slightly smaller size. The front was naturally situated with two passenger seats - one for the driver on the left, the other on the right for the passenger, a long chair in the back for passengers riding in the back.

There was plenty space inside separating the three chairs from each other, enough head space to at least stand straight than you would in a car. The windows were made of a strange absorbent glass reminiscent of bulletproof glass but much stronger. The frame of the car itself was white, silver bolts lined across it, in the front were large headlights framed by steel you'd find on the front of a jeep, that hugged the sides and traced the rooftop back down to the window.

Out of reluctance Sue touched the driver's door, with a hiss it swung open nearly hitting the Invisible Woman in the chin. Stepping forward she peeked inside. Immediately wheelless car and the four crest on her chest responded to her entrance. Sue was tempted to go further into the car A cough was brought to her attention. Sue ducked past the door and readied herself for attack.

Standing across from her, atop the doorway's frame was Negative-Reed, grinning madly. He didn't look as horrible as he did the last time she saw him. Sue remained on the defensive as he climbed down from his perch onto the ground. "I was afraid I was going to be alone on the trip back," He sighed stretching his arms. Sue glared at N-Reed, her face hot with anger at the very sight of him. "What did you do with Reed, and the others?" She demanded. Negative-Reed bit down on his lip, mocking the face Reed had made when Ben had set the two up for dinner.

"I haven't the slightest clue what you mean. I haven't done anything with my counterpart or his friends," Negative-Reed answered directly. He moved a little closer toward her. Sue created a box that expanded across the entire roof, separating her side from his. As if to tease her. Negative-Reed walked over to the shield and plucked at it. Sue lowered her hands using only her mind to keep the shield up. "You can't keep that up forever, Sue," N-Reed said darkly. Sue raised her middle finger to the man behind the wall which only further amused him.

Rushing over to the car Sue jumped inside. Automatically the seat belt locked itself around her waist, Sue let out a gasp but recovered quickly and grabbed the steering wheel. A flashing light beside the wheel appeared. Sue looked down distractedly at the light, '_auto pilot'_ was what appeared in bold black letters every time the light flashed.

"Great," She mused, looking in the direction of Negative-Reed. He still stood behind the shield she created. The strain on her head was now becoming eminent she pressed the flashing button. '_Auto pilot off - manual'_ Sue felt no more comforted than she did before. "Reed, how am I supposed to work this thing!" She shouted into the communicator on her chest. She pressed her hand against her nose when she felt something warm running down her lip onto her stomach. Blood stained her glove proceeding to drizzle down her fingers.

"Sue, there's a ignition port behind the steering wheel, same as a standard vehicle," Reed said. Sue glared at her chest in sheer annoyance. "It took you long enough to respond. Where are you!" She shouted leaning over. Sue spotted the ignition port right where Reed said it would be, inside of it resided a key-card that hadn't been pushed all the way inside.

"I found it," She said breathlessly. "Good, now push the key card into the port and turn it. Your all set from there," Reed said. Sue ignored the temptation to ask if he was alright and did as he directed, the machine came to life with a loud roar. Gripping the steering wheel she pulled back, Sue felt her heart skip a beat when the machine lurched forward at top speed breaking through the concrete siding of the roof. She let out a blood curdling scream as the car plummeted down the front of the building. Negative-Reed rushed forward the moment the shield came down. He leapt over the edge of the building after Sue.

"Sue calm down and control the Fantasticar!" Reed shouted.

"The what?" She screamed.

"Never mind! Pull the machine up and head for the funnel. If I'm right, we're in the Negative Zone," Reed answered. Sue fought to gather her senses as her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, when she began to pull up a loud thud above caught her by surprise.

Sue found herself ducking to the right when a thick blade cut through the rooftop, the steering wheel turned with her, the Fantasticar was thrown into spin, jerking the safely secured Sue about her chair. Negative-Reed swallowed against the air-sickness churning in the pit of his stomach, swinging himself over to the drivers side he peered into the window; Sue glared right back at him with such fiery hatred it made him grin.

She was feistier than all the other Sue's he had come across. A lot more sterner than his Sue. Sue jerked the Fantasticar out of its spin and throttled forward, Negative-Reed kept his grip on the roof of the car firm as the machine picked up speed. Sue swallowed against the panic beating in her chest, she made a jerky turn and almost crashed into a building. Rounding the corner she spotted the funnel.

It wasn't too far too now! Sue went as fast as she could in the Fantasticar. "Sue, let me in!" Negative-Reed's blade came deeper into car, catching the woman off guard. The blade sunk deep into her shoulder, Sue let out a howl. Negative-Reed knew he hit pay dirt at the sound of her cry he pushed his blade deeper into her skin and got yet another reaction out of her, but not the one he wanted.

Before he knew it he was being thrown off the top off the Fantasticar, he could feel himself plummeting fast to the ground. Acting quickly he extended his arm and grabbed the nearest thing on the vehicle his hand could latch onto. He felt himself being jerked away from the ground and pulled along toward the funnel. Sue continued driving the Fantasticar until she felt the vehicle being pulled into the funnel.

She felt numb relief wash over her as she felt the car being pulled upward. She looked down at her shoulder, blood gushed from the horrible wound, Sue wanted to vomit at the smell of her own blood as it filled the cabin.

Raising her hand up to her mouth she pulled the glove from off her hand. It took several tries to get wrap the stretchable glove around her wound as a make-shift tourniquet and tie it up, which only added more trouble and agony. When the Fantasticar entered the funnel another sudden jerk threw her against the chair. Her head hit the head rest hard, through the haze of pain she saw nothing but darkness that was illuminated by a million stars sprayed out around her like white paint on a canvas.

Her chin laid against her chest as she maneuvered the Fantasticar through obstacles she barely saw coming at her. Her breathing was becoming labored with every drop of blood that managed to escape her tourniquet. Her eyes-lid fell half-mass, she wasn't even aware of a wingless creature coming at her.

* * *

**(TBC)**


	6. Part VI: Macrotus

**Part VI: Macrotus**

* * *

Reed landed awkwardly when he uncurled himself from his ball form, he had touched down on a small meteor a ways off from the hunk of meteor that the I.D.M. had settled itself upon. For some it wasn't much in the ways of covering ground, but Reed was willing to take whatever small steps he had to fix things, and he would do it quickly. Reed leaped forward to the next meteor in front of him, and repeated this action across the chain of meteors in front of him.

When he reached the last one, he found he was closer to his goal than ever before, the problem was still getting there without falling. Reed lifted his leg stretched as far as it would go, his heel stopped on the very edge of the meteor the I.D.M. resided on. Retracting his leg, he hyped himself up for what he was about to do. _It was nothing he couldn't handle_, he thought tiredly.

A distant bag caused him to turn his attention to the goings on behind, in the distance he could see a spot of flame dancing around in a zig-zag motion and small lights that followed. Johnny was still keeping Annihilus busy, no time to dawdle.

Reed kneeled down as far as he could go, the tension built in his body until he could literally feel himself shaking. Closing his eyes he jumped from his position, Reed felt his stomach drop from the acceleration at the rise of his bod. If there was any air he could feel, he wished it were blowing through his hair.

The surrounding world did not seem to move as the scientist flew over head; Reed began to descend quickly, his arm stretched as far as the edge of the meteor. His fingers gripped the uneven surface, Reed's descent came to an abrupt halt when his body hit the side of the meteor. While there were perks to having a body that could literary adapt to its surroundings it did nothing to numb the pain he was feeling from the impact.

Shaking his head free of cobwebs he struggled to pull himself up the side of the rock's surface with only the use of one arm and leg. During their confrontation with Annihilus, he could feel his muscles tightening the same way they did in his arm whenever a spasm came over him. Reed pulled himself over the edge of the meteor and onto its surface, his face cried with relief at the cool surface pressed against its hot and sweaty skin. Reed glanced up at the I.D.M. which laid but a few inches away from him, pushing himself off the ground he made his way toward the I.D.M..

It looked to be in good shape, granted there were panels of the structure missing, but nothing that would effect the function. He hoped. Reed leaned down and picked the I.D.M. from off the ground, it was amazingly lightweight in his grasp. "Hmm!" Reed couldn't help but let out a chuckle of relief. _There must be a gravity difference in the Negative Zone_, he thought.

Sitting the machine back on the ground he peered in on the interior; The wires connected to the crystal (now black) were burnt to a fine brown color, the other wires surrounding it weren't any good either. He flipped the switch from the middle position it resided in to the 'off'. Reed stuck his hand inside the machine, his could feel his arm shaking while his mind ran through memories of pain. He grasped the black crystal, he tugged on it to loosen the crystal from its position. He did not expect the jolt of electricity that raced up his arm, Reed let out a strangled cry.

His fingers wrapped themselves around the black crystal the stronger the energy surge became. Reed felt every molecule in his body was fried by now. He screamed out pain, his muscles tightened while his body went rigid. A burst of energy escaped the I.D.M. shooting in all directions in a prism design. Reed wasn't even aware that he had been thrown onto the ground. His hand gripped the crystal still. The I.D.M. channeled its volleys of energy into Reed's motionless body, whom was unable to stop it.

* * *

Annihilus ducked another flaming punch from the Human Torch and delivered a swift kick in the boy's gut. Johnny doubled over in pain, Annihilus brought his fists down on the boy's back. Johnny recovered just in time to duck a flying meteor aimed straight at the flying creature. "Take that, ya buzzard!" Ben sneered. Annihilus ducked the chunk meteor with a swift flap of his wings. He let out a cackle.

"This is child's play," Sniffed the master of the Negative-Zone.

Johnny joined his friend's side with a disgruntled sigh. "This isn't working! We need help!" Johnny snapped irritably.

"Unless you got a Bat signal matches, I suggest you stop complain'," Ben growled. Johnny ignored Ben's comment and went after Annihilus again. Johnny swung at Annihilus' face, the winged creature dodged the oncoming attacker only to have his staff knocked from his hand. He kicked Johnny aside, the Human Torch crashed into a passing meteor. Annihilus surged forward, he was upon the Thing's back crawling at his eyes. Ben rolled onto the ground in hopes he would crush the rabid attacker, Annihilus kept his hold on the man and continued to claw at his face.

Ben punched furiously at Annihilus as he truly began to feel the sting of his claws and the awful cackle that echoed through his earless head. Reaching up he grabbed Annihilus' wings on the first try.

"Did I ever tell you I hated these wings?" He snarled bitterly. Annihilus was not given the chance to respond, Ben pulled on his wings and tore them from Annihilus' back. Annihilus let out a blood curdling scream that overlapped with another, more familiar, scream. "Yeah, yeah, whine-whine," Ben snapped grabbing Annihilus by the arms.

He swung in a circle, so fast that he became nothing but a blur to those watching. "Bon voyage!" Ben released the now wingless master of the Negative Zone, Annihilus screamed as soared through space. His back ached horribly from the detachment from his wings, the symbol of his race, now gone to him forever. Suddenly there was a loud bang, a white vehicle came flying out a portal toward him. He let out a cry of horror, he collided with the contraption head first and went tumbling over the roof. He drifted further into the meteor belt whimpering pain. Negative-Reed watched the figure become a small speck in the cluster of meteors with a look of confusion.

"That was awesome, Ben!" Johnny proclaimed excitedly, his flame grew in his strength as if to agree. Ben scratched the side of his stubby nose, beside himself with pride. "That was like - wrestling on Smackdown!" The Human Torch went on. Johnny threw a couple punches to further demonstrate his awe, Ben waved his hand dismissive-like upon catching sight of the wheelless car heading in their direction.

"Heads up matches, we've got company," He said. Johnny turned around to gaze upon the Fantasticar, it came to a stop in front of him. Sue looked up from the steering wheel in genuine shock, Johnny floated over to the driver's window and pressed his face against the glass. Sue saw no signs of the glass melting under her brother's bodily fire, she felt a sense of dread fall over her when his smooshed face smiled at her. "Hey, its Sue! Ben, its my sister!" He cried, looking over to where Ben resided. Sue was careful not to move too much as she pushed herself forward to get a glimpse of the giant.

Ben waved to her with a relieved expression on his face. "Sue," Johnny's voice had dropped a little, "What happened to your shoulder?" Sue looked down her blood soaked uniform with dismay clear in her eyes, she shook her head as the passenger door opened automatically. Johnny moved for the passenger door and entered the Fantasticar. The door close behind him, he flamed off and leaned over to got a better look at her. Sue recoiled from his reaching grasp gingerly. "I-I'm fine, Johnny," She said, her voice wavering.

"I just ran into a little trouble with Reed's double." Johnny eyes flared hot-red, he looked about the cabin of the car in anger. "Where is he! I'm gonna kill him!" Johnny snarled, bearing his teeth. Both Storm siblings froze on their place at the sound of footfalls above them, Negative-Reed landed on the roof of the Fantastic car. His pale brown eyes peered on the inside of the car, a sadistic grin plastered on his face. He drew his arm back his hand transforming into a large Mallet. "Uh-oh," Johnny muttered.

N-Reed thrust his arm forward, the mallet smashed into the glass cracking it. Sue let out a cry of pain when her shoulder hit the back of the chair, Johnny glowered at the other Reed. Negative-Reed stood upward. They wouldn't be a bother to him - "Hey, egghead, pick on someone twice your size!" Ben shouted. Negative-Reed turned in response, Ben stood just a few feet away from him, his fist grinding against palm. "Why should I bother with you? I've got them to play with and you can't stop me," N-Reed tantalized. The Thing glared. "'Cause, I'm a better fighter than them. Better than you, _egghead_," Ben answered. Negative-Reed lifted off from the Fantasticar over to the orange ogre, he hovered above Ben in regard.

"What are you waitin' for, an invitation? Get out here so I can whomp your ass," Ben growled. Negative-Reed went into action, flying forward he expanded his body to the size of a blanket and proceeded to wrap himself around Ben. Ben struggled against the man's malleable body as it grew tight around his body, he really had to think ahead with his plans. The more he struggled the more limited his movement became, Negative-Reed was fitting around him like badly tailored suit, slipping his metallic, but malleable body into the cracks of his body and it hurt. "Better than me? Hardly, you can't even shake me off," Negative-Reed chuckled. Ben pulled against the man's body, he felt himself being pulled down to the ground.

"Johnny, where's Reed?" Sue groaned tightening her glove around her shoulder. Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "Last time I saw him, he was telling me to distract Annihilus, the guy that bounced off the car." Sue sighed in dismay, how could her brother loose track of their leader, her ex-boyfriend (whom she was becoming very involved with whenever he wasn't busy in the lab)? "Well, go find him, I'll help Ben," Sue struggled to say. Johnny blinked in bewilderment, Sue was crazy if she thought he was going to leave her to fight the homicidal Reed Richards across from them. He opened his mouth to protest but a sharp glare from his sister's large blue eyes left no room for agreement. Johnny nodded his head then paused as the door opened itself.

"Are you sure? 'Cause I could totally help Ben more than I could Reed-," Sue shoved him out of the Fantasticar with her powers. "FLAME ON!" Johnny cried. His body was engulfed in the bright entropy of fire and he took off toward Ben. Negative-Reed glared up at the young man, Johnny ignored him. "Ben which way did Reed go!" He shouted. Ben's arm struggled to straighten itself, when it did it pointed to the speck of flickering light that they failed to notice before. Well, following the light shouldn't be _hard_, Johnny thought taking flight towards it. Negative-Reed pushed his body against Ben's flailing arms. Out of nowhere he was attacked by an invisible force. N-Reed felt his head hit the ground and his body unraveling itself from around the Thing.

Sue climbed back inside the Fantasticar into the driver's seat. She maneuvered the vehicle toward the meteor. She climbed out of the car barely keeping her balance when her feet touched the ground. She kept her injured arm close against her chest, Ben groaned looking his body over. "Ben are you alright?" Sue asked. Ben flexed his fingers then gave her a thumbs up, Sue smiled weakly and nodded. Negative-Reed barely climbed to his feet when he was struck down by another attack from the Invisible Woman. He found he could not get up a second time, he was being held down by the infernal woman herself. "Easy Suzie," Ben warned. Sue ignored his comment and wrapped her shield around Negative-Reed's neck, the man began to choke. "Sue, stop it!" Ben cried. "Why should I? He tried to kill us Ben, tried to kill Reed. What's to stop him from trying again!" Sue snapped angrily.

In spite of his situation Negative-Reed found himself laughing - or at least trying to - at the woman before him. He was cut off abruptly at the tightening of her shield around his neck. He began to wheeze heavily, his lungs were burning for air and he was becoming light-headed. "Sue, this isn't right, you know that. Even he deserves it, you can't kill him," Ben said sternly. Through the haze of her anger and unshed tears Sue considered Ben's words. She had killed anyone before, now seemed as good a time as any to do it. Especially to someone who truly deserved it. But of course, _if_ she killed now, there was no telling if she'd stop herself from doing it a second time. Maybe. "B- en's right Sue," N-Reed rasped. "Y- you kill me, you'll never go back to be sweet and innocent. What would I think of my sweetheart when I saw you again?" Sue felt her heart skip a beat, Negative-Reed smiled bitterly.

"That's right, I'd think you were a killer." He tired to laugh at her but ended up choking. Sue glared at him, he wasn't worth it. Releasing him from her grasp she watched him fall on his face in a coughing fit, she walked over to him. "Your not the same as _my_ Reed," Sue snarled. Negative-Reed had not the chance to respond, he felt Sue's fist connect with his head and then darkness consumed him. Negative-Reed slumped against the warm surface unconscious. Ben regarded the counter-part's body wearily.

"He's alive, don't worry Ben," Sue said calmly. _She wished he wasn't_. Ben sighed in relief. "That's good." A pause. "Where's matches, I thought heard him talkin' to me?" The Thing muttered. Sue looked to the Fantasticar, motioning to Ben she headed over to the parked machine. "Err, Suzie, you sure I can fit in this?" Ben grumbled as she started it up.

Sue measured her friend up verses the Fantasticar's size the nodded. "Pretty sure. Get in Ben, no time to waste," Sue answered. The disgruntled Ben Grimm climbed into the car, he barely had time to make himself comfortable before the Fantasticar took off at top speed. Ben rolled across the back chair until he stopped against the wall, at the moment he wished there was a rear-view window so he could stare daggers at Sue's forehead. Sue reactivated the G.P.S. once again and locked on the positions of her brother and Reed - whose signal was faint. Silence lingered between the two comrades for some time, Ben never said anything to her but himself (usually complaining about something). Sue didn't say anything to him, she found it hard to force a conversation onto a person when neither were willing to the same. "Ben," Sue said, deciding to break the silence.

"What did Reed go off on his own for anyway?" Ben was tempted his shrug his shoulders for a second then reconsidered his answer. He looked up from counting his short fingers he found Sue looking back at him. "He went to find that dohickey of his. The I.D.M.," He said quickly. Sue nodded her head and focused her attention back on the roadless space ahead. When they arrived, Sue was not in the least to find her brother in the heat of battle, fending off what looked like . . . . giant insects? Sue was puzzled by this; Then again she was puzzled by this entire place. She wasn't sure how this 'space' was supporting them or anything for that matter.

She'd figure with a name like the 'Negative Zone' it spelt instant death for those who even dare venture outside without a space suit. With only with one hand on the steering wheel, Sue managed to park the car where her brother was fighting, there were plenty of meteors to jump across to where he was. Sue and Ben unloaded from the Fantasticar and took flight across the clustered meteors.

The insectoid creatures were in appearance, the same flies and multi-legged creatures you'd find on earth sitting on your shoulder or a plant. Only these creatures had fangs that would tear you apart, eyes that would probably burn holes in you if you so much as glance at them. Wings so large and utterly unsettling that it would be hard to keep a phobic from having a heart attack at the sight of them. Sue felt her legs shake slightly when one of them came after her, she fired one of her offensive shields at the creature. It splattered like a rotten tomato. Sue made a face and activated her invisibility.

Ben watched as several groups of insects were destroyed by the Invisible Woman's, he stomped and punched his way toward Johnny who stood a considerable foot away from Reed who laid on the ground, his hand in the I.D.M.. Ben swatted a bug away from the I.D.M. and stood next Reed, ready to fend off any more attacks. Johnny burned the last of the giant roaches off his back and smacked an on-coming fly to the side.

"What took you? There's something wrong with Reed. I can't touch him and he won't answer me," Johnny snapped burning through a group of flyers coming in his direction. Ben glanced down at the immobile Reed for a second then turned his attention back to the battle. "Whadya mean?" Ben replied. Sue jumped out of the way when a leaping spider came down from its observant perch, it let out a low hiss that sounded like a moaning corpse from a horror movie. Sue dispatched quickly with a wave of her hand along with a few others. This entire area was infested with bugs, they had to get out here before they were overpowered by the sheer numbers.

Sue jumped across three meteors to join up with the others. Snaking past Ben's large form she fell to her knees next to Reed. His legs propped themselves up, but he made no move to acknowledge her presence. The invisible woman raised a shield around the ground they stood upon, the insects ran into the shield splattering on impact. Ben could not shake the feeling that they were trying to weaken the barrier and were not just senselessly running into it. Sue kept her focus on the shield, she tried his face with both her hands but when they got close enough her hands went right through him.

Sue drew back in surprise, she looked to Ben whose blue eyes were now clearly visible under his raised brow. Johnny came up to Ben's side with the same astonished look. "See, that's what I mean! I tried to touch him and I went right through him. He's a friggin' ghost!" Johnny proclaimed. Reed did not react at first; His eyes were closed and moved rapidly underneath his eye lids. He shot up right with a small gasp, Reed shoulders hunched and he began to shiver. His skin seemed to gain its olive color the harder his shaking became, finally he opened his eyes.

Sue was slightly taken aback at the whites of his eyes staring back at her. Reed's head leaned against her face, a small shock ran up her arm and seemed to arouse Reed, his eyes reappeared. Reed smiled weakly. Another mild shivering fit overcame him, he knew it was a side affect from being electrocuted a second time. Sue became worried, she fought to keep her emotions in check. "Reed, what happened?" She whispered. Reed shook his head trying to pry his hand from the inside of the I.D.M., but it would not budge. His body felt cold and numb, with the exception that he could feel his heart beating hard against his chest, unnaturally so. Johnny sighed. "Seriously Sue, that's not gonna work," Johnny said walking up to them.

Sue glared up at her brother, Johnny, in his usual demeanor, made a face that indicated he was indifferent toward to what she was feeling. Her shoulder rebelled against her movement, she ignored it as her hands placed themselves on Reed's shoulders. When her hands pressed down on his shoulders, he cried out pain. Sue remembered him saying being hurt and removed her hands from his shoulders immediately. Reed slumped forward wheezing, his hand attempted to clutch his right arm his hand phased right through it. Reed groaned, he found it extremely hard to breathe against the tightness in his chest, he took a large intake of breath which resulted in a coughing fit. "My hand's stuck," He finally managed to say.

Sue glanced down at his extended arm, her eyes widened; His fingers, they had seeped into the cracks of the crystal that had long since turned black. She turned back to Reed, she placed a hand on his face. Reed stared up at her through the haze of pain clouding his mind. Johnny noticed what his sister was looking at, he glanced over at Ben who continued to keep vigil on the shield around them. Johnny sighed, he was getting tired of Sue's attentive behavior toward's Reed, they had to get out of here and he was growing tired of watching bugs explode. Its really boring after the first several hundred times. Johnny grimaced when he felt a small drop of green insect blood hit his face. Sue's shield was failing. Kneeling down to Reed and Sue's level, Johnny reached in and grabbed a hold of Reed's hand. "Johnny, what are you doing?" Sue snapped. "Calm down, I know what I'm doing," Johnny grumbled.

_I'd advise against such a brash action._ A voice came. The foursome's heads turned in all directions, the voice echoed all around them making the origin hard to determine. "Who said that?" Ben demanded. _Simply put, I "was" Reed, but have returned to my original state. Reed should know what I speak of,_ The voice responded. All eyes fell on the shivering Reed. "It's . . p-probably, Reed, the kid," Said Reed. "Annihilus said someone else had followed us . . . I dunno how," Reed groaned, the tightness in his chest getting stronger. The voice continued.

_When I died, I knew there was no possible way I could return to my realm on my own. When Reed came to my aid -all too late- I transferred myself to Reed's body knowing in its present state, it was easy to get past its defenses. In doing this, he obtains for a short time, my abilities of telekinesis or shield formations. In turn, I am able to keep his body from deteriorating any more than it has. But this is only for a short time. Return me to my dimension and your body may be able repair itself once the atmosphere of your world is stable enough for your molecules to heal._ Johnny, Ben, and Sue looked at Reed who tried his hardest to keep his pain masked, his hand phased through his chest when he went to grip it. "I-I told you he was talking to me," Reed chuckled weakly recoiling his hand.

Sue's brow creased with concern. "How can we trust you?" Sue said irritably. There was a silence that made the foursome feel like they were being watched under a microscope. _You can trust me. Besides, Annihilus is all but defeated. He wants the I.D.M. to use to get to your world. Contrary to your belief, but this system is dying - most likely in its last stages of decomposition. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants._

Reed II's soulless voice echoed all around them. Johnny rubbed his arms at the feel of a chill running up his spine. He wondered how Reed was able to tolerate this boy's icy voice in his head. It was unbearable to hear. "What've got to loose?" Ben responded optimistically. Sue turned slowly to him, she whipped the blood running down her lip with the back of her hand. "Our lives," She answered dully. "D-don't worry, we can trust Reed," Reed said. Sue looked to Reed worriedly, his face was paling again, his body leaning against hers. Johnny was growing tired of all the talking, he just wanted to leave this place.

The young man paused for a moment staring back at Reed with uncertainty, Reed stared back questionably as the young man gripped his wrist again. Without warning, Johnny pulled at Reed's hand as hard as he could, which in turn made Reed cry out with equal strength. Reed's fingers slowly began to pull away from the black crystal, electricity spurted from the crystal and threatened to attack both men. Sue assisted her brother and Reed grabbing both their arms, Reed's hand finally came loose and the tiro went sprawling backward. Reed clutched his hand which was slowly returning to its normal shape, it burned like Johnny had touched him while on fire. Sue helped him off the ground, Reed stumbled backward unsteady on his feet. Sue kept a hold on him ignoring the increasing pain in her head. "You all right egghead?" Ben asked.

Reed grinned, his eyes were unable to open from the half-mass position they had fallen in. He couldn't see Ben's face all that well. "I'm c-cold. Other than that, _peachy_," He forced himself to say. Ben gave him a look that meant didn't believe a word he said, Reed didn't expect him to. Ben just nodded his head and stepped toward the edge of the meteor.

"As much as love to stick around and watch bugs hit the wind shield, I think its high-time we leave this place," The Thing grumbled. _I concur. Sue lower your shields, I will deal with the attackers._ Reed II's voice returned. Sue was hesitant at first but with a steady hand lowered her shields, the insects came them from all sides, eager to rip into their soft flesh (or in Ben's case - his stone flesh). Reed's hand -which had barely recovered from its ordeal with the I.D.M.- left his side and with one swift wave of his arm, released an attack much like Sue's. The insects were blown away like leaves in the harsh attack, breaking apart like rotten corpses.

Reed felt his energy drained from him after his arm turned to his side, he knees threatened to buckle beneath him. Sue kept a steady arm around his waist. "I don't understand, Sue could of done that," Johnny grumbled, as if jealous. _Given the period of time she held her shield up, I highly doubt Miss Storm would be able to swat even 3 enemies away._ Sue's face contorted with anger, her pride obviously wounded.

They began to move across the clustered meteors toward the Fantasticar when a terrible scream echoed all around them, the foursome turned their heads in the supposed origin of the sound. "I don't like the sounds of that," Ben grumbled. "We need to move," Reed said. "Now. Ben, Johnny, get the-" Reed fell silent."The what?" Johnny inquired curiously. "Yeah, the flying car? What's its name?" Ben spoke up almost teasingly. They all knew (or at least Ben did) had a general guesstimate of what the name of the car could be, but they wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. Reed's face screwed up like a 13-year-old boy, he turned his head to the side. "Ugh . . . I'm not gonna tell you. You'll laugh," Reed stated defiantly.

"We will not," Johnny.

"'C'mon, just tell us. I swear on our friendship I'm not gonna laugh," Ben.

"I'll second that motion," Susan.

Reed however was not convinced. "Our friendship must not mean that much to you then!" He paused catching his breath. "I was sixteen years old! Your gonna laugh at me, I know it!"

"Are not!" The relentless tiro's faces became firm and determined. Reed felt Sue's fingers pluck his neck, he turned to glare at the invisible woman but Sue free hand flexed its fingers, giving off bursts of energy from her powers. Reed dare not look toward Ben (whom was rubbing his fist into his hand) nor Johnny (who was snapping his fingers, igniting them) for anymore motivation to speak. He felt his stomach twist in knots as he raised his head a little higher. "Its... um... the Fantasticar," Reed said quietly.

"I'm sorry? I didn't get that," Johnny blurted. "The _Fantasticar_!" Reed snapped angrily, his face growing red. The tiro's faces fell instantly, silence ruled for but a moment before laughter from Ben could be heard.

"Dude, the _Fantasticar_? You - what kind of name is the Fantasti-Car?" Johnny said over Ben's laughter. Sue said nothing and kept a straight face, at least she was generous enough to be silent in her mocking.

Reed glared at the 3 three of them indignantly. "I was sixteen when I came up with the name! Ben knows it, he just wanted to hear me say it aloud!" Reed proclaimed. Benjamin's laughing stopped in that second which was promptly followed another screech, stronger than the last. Poking fun at Reed was all but forgotten but had been pushed aside for now. Ben and Johnny rushed across the path of meteors towards the Fantasticar, Sue proceeded to follow but Reed's refusal to move with her stopped her.

"What are you doing, we have to follow them," Sue said sternly. "No, we have to repair the I.D.M.," Reed said. "The crystal isn't far damaged that we can't use it, we just need to new wiring." Sue opened her mouth to object -they had no wires to repair the infernal machine- when Reed removed the 4 crest from his chest, she knew what he was thinking.

Sue moved to keep her grip on his waist, her hand slid from his waist before she could question what happened. Reed moved back across the meteors toward the I.D.M. He kneeled in front the machine, he reached into the machine only to receive another shock. "Reed, this is crazy! We can't repair this machine without the proper tools!" Susan yelled.

Reed tried to touch one of the damaged wires, he reacted his hand at the first signs of electricity tingling around his fingers. "Your gonna have to do this Sue, I can't get near this thing without causing some kind of a electrical reaction," Reed groaned. Sue shook her head furiously. "No, I'm not doing it. We have to get to the Fantasticar - that's our only way out of here," Sue insisted. "No, the I.D.M. is. The only reason we were able to get here it because the Negative Zone and Earth's dimensions were connected. Connected by this machine, the only way we're getting out of here is if we fix this thing.

Now I've told you that I can't touch this thing, I'm telling you to fix this thing so _we can go home,"_ Reed finished sternly. Sue opened her mouth to say something but another screech cut her off. Reed stood up to get a better view on the approaching fiend; He focused his lenses on the desired target. It was huge, bigger, and wider than anything he had seen. If anything it borderline prehistoric bird.

Long and powerful beak and a wing span big and strong enough to create a tornado, a skin surface that resembled dragon scales. And to top it all off, Annihilus rode in the mouth of the approaching attacker - apparently screaming at several hooded figures that seemed busily working. "Oh no," Reed groaned. "What? What is it?" Sue asked quickly. Reed turned his gaze to the right, inside the Fantasticar Johnny and Ben were thumb wrestling for the drivers seat.

If he were one of those Japanese cartoons he imagined he would be on the ground with his feet in the air. "BEN, JOHNNY, GET MOVING!" He shouted angrily. Johnny and Ben snapped into their respective seats, Johnny at the wheel and Ben in the front passengers seat. "Annihilus is heading our way. We need you to distract him long enough for us to fix the I.D.M.!" Reed ordered. Johnny gave him a thumbs up.

"Shouldn't be a problem with me at the wheel. NASA _hired me_ after all," Johnny proclaimed proudly. "Yeah, NASA also _fired_ you," Ben grumbled as the car started. Johnny glared at him sideways, the Fantasticar turned and headed off the general direction Reed pointed out. Johnny took to the controls easily, he managed to figure out the navigational and tracking controls easily to Ben's surprise. There was a reason NASA hired him. "Look at the size of that thing!" Johnny proclaimed in awe.

Ben looked up from his knees to gaze upon the winged creature came fast toward them. If Johnny was going to distract this thing, now would be a good time. Ben swallowed a wave of nausea as the Fantasticar thrust downward right underneath the beast's belly. Johnny looked behind him to see if it had taken the bait. It had; The winged beast made a smooth turn away from Reed and Sue toward them, Ben grunted in mild surprise. "Looks like your trick worked. Now get moving matches," He said. Johnny nodded quickly keeping the speed of the vehicle up.

Annihilus roared in blind rage, his back stung, bleeding from his wings being severed from his body by that Golem.

"Faster! Faster! They will pay dearly for my misfortune!" He howled. Annihilus' hooded minions worked silently at controlling the corpse of the demi-lifeless beast, their fear kept them going when their bodies were too tired to motivate them. Annihilus roared again wishing nothing more for the power of his wings restored him. The golem would pay for his wrong doing, oh he would pay dearly.

* * *

Sue was busy at work on the I.D.M. while Reed watched Annihilus' vessel pursue the Fantasticar. His cheeks turned a bright pink at the reminder of Ben and Johnny's teasing. He turned around to gaze upon Susan, her face expressed the frustration he could practically sense from her. His hand slide down his side automatically, he looked down at his uniform wishing he had pockets to shove his hands in. "How's its going?" Reed said blandly. Sue looked up at her ex-boyfriend with a rueful smile, she could only shrug her shoulders.

"I've managed to reattach the crystal in the machine, now all that's left is replacing the wires," Sue answered. Her hand grasped the crest that belonged to Reed. Reed nodded his head understandingly, his gaze shifted skyward. Sue stared at his profile for a moment, trying to ignore the fact his arm was practically like that of a ghost. As she slowly removed her attention from Reed something caught her eye, her mouth fell agape. "Reed look out!" She screamed, raising her hand.

Reed reacted too late, Negative-Reed had caught him by surprise. Sue grunted in pain when he pushed against her shield, her shoulder burned like a fire had been set upon it. "Sue!" She barely heard Reed calling her name, her mind fogged with the familiar stages of unconsciousness. Negative-Reed could feel his fingers bending right through the Invisible Woman's defensive shield, his teeth shifted against each other in anticipation. "I-I can't hold this much longer . . .!" Susan cried, her arms beginning to tremble. Negative-Reed thrust his arms forward breaking Sue's shield, the woman was thrown back from the sheer force of the dissipating power. Her head hit the ground hard.

"Sue-!" Reed was bombarded by his double like a tackle dummy. They went rolling over the edge of the meteor and plummeted fast toward the darkness below. Reed fought to reclaim the breath he was robbed off, N-Reed's arms wrapped around his counterpart and began to squeeze. Reed's narrowed gaze locked onto N-Reed's crazed pale brown eyes. There was no point in trying to reason with this person - he was completely beyond that point now. Reed struggled to wriggle out of N-Reed grasp which was steadily growing tighter. "How hard do you think I'll have to squeeze to see your eyes bulge out of your skull?" He cackled. Reed cringed at the sound that came out of his counterpart's mouth, he kneed the man in the stomach.

N-Reed flinched enough for the scientist to attack again; This time he head-butted the man which promptly caused the villain to release him. Reed shoved away from N-Reed, he stretched his usable arm toward the meteor which was almost a mere speck in his sights. _Please, allow me to assist you. . . ._ Reed II's voice caught the man off guard. "How are you going to do that?" Reed inquired as calmly as he could.

_It's a simple matter really. Retract your arm please. . ._ Reed did as he was told, his arm returned its normal shape. The rate of his decent began to slow increasingly until he was simply hovering in mid air, Reed looked around him for the source of support but found none. Suddenly he found himself flying up toward the meteor. Reed let out a mild cry of surprise as he body maneuvered itself through the air and landed feet first on the meteor. When his limbs relaxed he could sense the feeling them returning steadily. Sue rushed over to the awed Mr. Fantastic. "Reed, did I see you flying just now?" She asked.

* * *

Reed himself wasn't sure if he had done it, actually flew from the depths of certain doom. _I highly doubt your counterpart is gone, I suggest you make haste and repair your machine. For both our sakes, _Reed II mused. Reed nodded his head then turned to Sue. The Invisible woman stared expectantly at the man. "Reed, I'm no good with mechanics. I can't fix this," Sue blurted. Reed begged to differ. "That's not true Sue. I can't touch that thing without getting electrocuted. Your going to have to fix the I.D.M., otherwise we'll be stuck here," Reed answered. Sue did not like the answer she received, however, she did not have time further press the subject. A metallic arm came out beneath her threatening to grab her.

Reed snatched the hand away from Susan's neck, its forearm trapped in his grip. N-Reed came up from below the meteor preparing to attack. Reed found himself jumping from Sue's side right at N-Reed, he (or in this case Reed II) attacked furiously at his other self. N-Reed ducked every attack with ease, he was surprised to see such resistance from the scientist. "Sue, fix the I.D.M., I'll handle him!" Reed cried out. Sue nodded reluctantly running back over the machine. N-Reed made a move to dodge his other arm when it passed right through him, Reed paused in mild shock. N-Reed punched the man hard in the chin.

Reed faltered as he tried to regain his balance, N-Reed attacked him with a bolt of electricity. Reed watched his arms raise over his head creating a force field. The electricity harmlessly washed over of the field. He was seriously beginning to feel like a puppet.

N-Reed came at him again with his arms, they wrapped themselves around his face smothering him. "Your not match for me, give up Richards," N-Reed laughed. Reed was in such a blind panic to get the man's arms off his face that he didn't realize that the burning in his lungs was non-existent. With a burst of telekinetic energy, Reed easily removed his counterpart's arms from his face. He charged N-Reed again. N-Reed made no move to evade the charging man, focusing his gaze on the demi-hero he raised his hands and made them into fists.

Half way to his destination Reed felt his muscles contract with pain, his joints locked in place. He ceased moving completely. "_Damn . . ._," He hissed through his teeth. Negative-Reed was pleased with the result of his mental strength, he released another bolt of electricity on the defenseless scientist. Reed clenched his teeth preparing for the blow to come, but it never hit him. He cracked opened his brown eyes which shifted to Sue.

Her hand was outstretched toward him, her face twisted with pain, blood running from her nose. Negative-Reed did not bother to attack the Invisible woman this time, he charged full force at the shield and destroyed it. Sue recoiled from the violent sensation that throbbed through her head, she left out a brief sigh of relief upon noticing Reed moving again. However, the reprieve of hope was broken when N-Reed coiled with his counterpart. Reed cried out as he was swung about in a circle by his collar.

With one final swing N-Reed sent Reed flying through the so-called air, Reed felt his body flip itself into an upright position and halting as though he feet had been dragged across concrete. Reed II was controlling him again. "_Reed._ Give me a heads up when your going to do that!" He snapped. _You'll forgive me if I'm a bit brash to take control. . ._ Reed II answered bluntly. Reed yelped as he lurched forward.

N-Reed threw a punch, Reed ducked it all the while grinning like a mischievous child. Grabbing a hold of N-Reed's ankle he spun in a circular motion and flung N-Reed around like rag doll. Reed tossed his counterpart toward a meteor, he let out a gasp when the feeling in his limbs returned. N-Reed's body collided with the meteor creating a nicely sized creator on the surface. N-Reed felt himself sinking into unconsciousness as his body slouched out of the mold it created. The black blotches in his vision began to dominate his sight.

N-Reed fell forward and plummeted into the darkness of the world below. Reed was feeling far too nauseous to be impressed by his (or Reed II's) handiwork. He allowed Reed II to take control of him once more and the fly him back to the meteor where Sue was. "Reed," Susan cried, her voice full of relief. "I'm not sure how I did it, but I figured out how to make this thing work again." Reed landed in front of the I.D.M. with a thud, he dropped to his knees heaving. Sue was at his side her hands upon his shoulders.

Reed took a moment to gather what little pride he had left in him, he shook his head quickly as if trying to convince himself that he was fine. "I'm okay, I'm okay," He uttered repeatedly. "How'd you fix it?" He inquired finally. Sue threw the hair out of her face in an almost proud way. "It turns out you were right about the crystal. The moment I connected the wires of your communicator the thing started up again," Sue explained rather quickly. Reed only half-listened to her, the joints in his fingers stiffened as they tried to ball into fists, he made a choking noise that caught the attention of Sue. "Reed, are you all right?" She asked worriedly. Reed opened his mouth to answer but no sound came out, he felt his arms bend under his weight and his face grew close to the ground.

His chest burned horribly. "What's wrong!" Sue cried. _I believe the term would be "I've been off more than I could chew" Dr. Storm._ Reed II's voice resounded, genuinely strained. Sue stood up abruptly angered by the 'young man''s demeanor. "You shut up, what have you done to Reed?" She sneered. Reed glanced up at his ex-girlfriend perplexed and indignant at the same time. _I overtaxed his deteriorating body, myself as well. This is a simple after affect of my strength used through this vessel._ Sue glared angrily into space as though Reed II would suddenly appear.

Reed pushed himself up off the ground so that he was sitting on his bottom. "Don't be so hard on him. Technically Reed is still a child. He doesn't know any better," Reed wheezed. Sue folded her arms across her chest in defiance. _I resent such labeling,_ Reed II would've growled if he could Reed rolled his eyes, a spike of pain rushed through his head.

"Sue, just hit the switch," Reed groaned. Susan had half a mind to tell him 'no, switch the damn thing on yourself'. However, given their situation she knew better than to let her personal feelings conflict with her better judgement. Kneeling down on one knee she reached over the I.D.M. and flipped the switch to 'on'. The machine came to life illuminated by a bright neon blue, Reed climbed onto his feet afraid history would repeat itself. Sue stepped back with him when sparks of energy started to burst from the antenna.

The darkness of space was suddenly illuminated by a dazzling spectrum of colors, Reed cringed at the memory of seeing such a sight before he blacked out. Sue cried out as the ground began to sink underneath them. Reed stumbled trying to keep his footing on the rapidly deforming meteor, he looked about his surroundings desperately. "Reed . . .," Sue's voice was unsteady. Reed did not waste his breath on words or thoughts, he grabbed Susan's wrist and found himself soaring through space the next.

Sue tried to keep herself composed as she tired to keep her grip on Reed's wrist. In an instant the meteor was swallowed in a vacuum that formed in the center of the once sturdy structure. "Where are Johnny and Ben!" She cried. "Try to contact them," Reed answered calmly. Sue nodded her head; That wouldn't be too difficult, she still had her communicator. She pressed her hand against the '4' symbol on her chest and shouted as loud as she could.

"Johnny! Ben? Where are you guy-!" Sue let out a screech of surprise when they were thrown into a spin from the shock-wave from the I.D.M. dispersing its energy. Sue or Reed barely had time to compose themselves when their bodies crashed against a hard surface. Sue kept a firm grip on Reed as she tried to turn herself upright.

She let out another cry of surprise at the sight of the prehistoric-like creature coming a them. "Hang on," She heard Reed say. Sue pushed herself forward and grabbed a hold of Reed's waist, hoping she wouldn't phase through him. When the creature was close enough Reed pushed off against the bone of its wing and they went hurtling away from danger.

* * *

Ben peered into the overhead mirror watching the two bodies continue to spiral out of control into the deep reaches of N-Zone space. "Uh, matchsticks, I think we hit Reed and Sue," Ben grumbled. Johnny looked down at the tracking monitor; The two familiar blue dots falling off the screen were indeed Reed and Sue. "So we did," Johnny answered indifferently, turning the Fantasticar around. The duo ignored the howl that emitted from the monster that threatened to swat the Fantasticar out of space with its wings as it flew by. Ben gripped the armrests of his chair sending a weary look in Johnny's direction. The hot-shot pilot ignored him and throttled forward at top speed. In spite of its horrible name, the Fantasticar was a amazing machine. "_Johnny, this is Reed. Could you give us a lift?_" Their leader's voice resounded in cabin. "Sure thing Reed.

We're on the way," Johnny answered. The Fantasticar was quick to reach the area Sue and Reed were currently drifting through. Johnny unlocked the doors and let the two inside. Johnny took a look behind him to examine the physical status of his teammates; Sue seemed fine in all honesty, besides the bruises she sustained and the injured shoulder.

Reed looked the worse out of the two; His body, which probably sustained its share of cuts and bruises, was still vanishing from sight, his skin was an unnatural shade of pale, and his uniform was nearly nattered from all that he went through. The duo pulled themselves up onto the back chair with heavy sighs, Johnny turned around before Reed could lock gazes with him. "Johnny do you see an energy anomaly on the tracing device anywhere?" Reed grunted.

Johnny stared down at the screen. Small tendrils of blue light could be seen blinking on and off in the right hand corner of the screen. "Yeah, why?" Johnny decided to inquire. Reed grinned weakly closing his eyes. "That's our ticket out of here. The shockwave should send us back to Earth and Reed back to his respective world. Assuming the I.D.M. recognizes my energy signature," The scientist responded. Johnny looked impressed by what the older man said to him to say the least.

"Really, it can do that? Just by reading your energy signature it'll send, you -and us?- and the kid (wherever he is) back to our respective homes? What about the other Reed?" Johnny said. Reed sighed in mild annoyance. "It should work with him too if he's in range of the I.D.M.," Reed mumbled. _Assuming he's not dead._ He leaned forward to elevate some of the pain he felt in his back and shoulder that had been hit by Annihilus. "Again, assuming the crystal isn't _too_ deteriorated in its current state, the I.D.M. should be able to read _our_ energy signatures pretty well. Not just mine," Reed replied with less enthusiasm.

Johnny opened his mouth to respond but caught a glimpse of Annihilus' organic ship. Gripping the steering wheel he turned the Fantasticar around. "Hang on, this is gonna be rough," He said mostly to himself. "Sue think you can shield us from that thing incase it gets too friendly?" Sue extended her arms in front of her, opening the palms of her hands she focused her energy on creating a shield. A small breeze began to circulate in the cabin of the flying-machine, Sue's shield got as wide as the space between her hands then disappeared. Sue tried again, the end result was the same. She threw her hands up in frustration. "No. My powers aren't cooperating," Sue snarled. Johnny nodded his head without bothering to turn it.

"Great. Now we're gonna end being' chowder for the freak-bird," Ben huffed. Johnny grinned wickedly as the Fantasticar picked up speed. Reed clenched his teeth as they rocketed past Annihilus' vessel. For a moment he swore he could've seen the humanoid's eyes meet his own. _I would suggest rest, Reed. I'll try my best to keep you from getting any worse than you are now._ Reed II came out of his remission causing Reed to grab his head.

It hurt a lot worse than it did when he spoke. Reed felt his head lower and his chin rest on his chest. He was asleep in mere seconds. The Fantasticar moved as fast as it could, even at full speed they didn't seem to be putting distance between themselves and the creature. No such luck was granted to them. Johnny periodically glanced down at the screen to see if they were still on track.

Flying through an asteroid belt didn't even seem to slow the creature which had seemingly become more berserk the longer their chase went on. "Does this thing ever give up?" Sue wondered. Neither male answered her question, their attention was focused on various things at the moment. The Fantasticar continued to maneuver its way in and out of the asteroids, Annihilus' vessel had a hard time keeping up the pace for its massive size made it extremely difficult to dodge any sort of obstacle. Once they left the asteroid belt Johnny stared down the tracking screen again; They weren't too far from their destination.

The Fantasticar suddenly lurched to a stop throwing its passengers forward. Johnny held onto the steering wheel trying to keep his head from colliding with the wheel by pushing himself against the chair. Ben literally went through the dashboard of the car sending a flurry of sparks everywhere. Sue was thrown from her seat along with Reed who was brought out of his slumber, Sue ended up being squashed by his body weight.

"Ugh! Get off of me Reed," She shouted. Reed stood up quickly looking about the back of the car; Above him he noticed there several teeth sticking through the roof. "Oh man, we're in serous trouble!" Johnny cried. Reed came up to the front, unconsciously he grabbed Ben's shoulder and pulled him out of the dashboard. Ben stirred slightly but it was obvious to anyone that he was senseless at that time. The dashboard was completely destroyed on Ben's side, it didn't take him to long to realize that there were going to be problems with controls.

"Johnny, get us out of here!" Reed yelled. "I'm trying Reed, that freak's got us in a bind!" Reed opened his mouth to say more, however, Sue's scream and smell of burning metal stopped him. He turned in time to see a piece of the roof give way and Annihilus fall through. Reed had no time to react, he was thrown against Ben's chair in an instant. Annihilus' was on top of him and attempting to crush his throat. Sue jumped on Annihilus' back trying to pull him off her ex-boyfriend, the self-proclaimed master of the N-Zone turned his attention away from Reed.

He grabbed the woman by the neck, Sue beat fiercely against his arm trying as she was lifted off the ground. She legs kicked wildly in the air, trying to find a target to hit. "Peon, what chance do you think you have against me?" He barked. Sue clamped her eyes shut focusing all her energy on her powers. Annihilus' grip on her throat was getting stronger, breathing was becoming her main priority.

As Annihilus could feel his fingernails touching against each other the hair upon his back stood up. "What?" His grip on Sue's neck was released, the woman dropped to the ground coughing. Annihilus growled in contempt as he felt his body turn against his will, his eyes narrowed as stared into the whites of Reed Richard's eyes. "Release me!" He bellowed through his teeth. Reed didn't seem to hear him at first, he stared down at the coughing Sue Storm for a while then focused his attention back on Annihilus. With a flick of his wrist Annihilus was sent up into air and flat against the roof of the Fantasticar, spread eagle.

Sue gazed up at him in astonishment, when had he gained this kind of power? "Relax, I'll take things from here," Was all he said to her. Turning on his heel Reed raised his arms overhead, Johnny yelped in surprise as the Fantasticar - no, the Fantasticar _and_ the alien bird-freak began to move forward. "_Whoa,_ what happened?" Ben said weakly, finally awake from his unconscious state.

He peered over his shoulder to find Reed unmoving from his position, his arms above his head and his brown eyes missing from sight. "My guess is that kid's controlling him," Johnny offered. "Right? Which Reed am I speaking to?" _You are correct in your assumption. I am controlling Reed's body._ Johnny looked to Ben who just shook his head. That didn't answer his question at all. Sue climbed off the ground and made herself comfortable on the chair behind her, she paid no attention to the strained grunting from Annihilus above her.

She simply glared at the back of her ex. The two vessels continued to pick up speed the closer they got to their destination, while their progress was good, however, the large output of energy Reed II was using was becoming a strain on his connection to Reed's body. Finally their destination was reached, below them resided the I.D.M.

"What do we now?" Johnny said. Reed shrugged his shoulders. "We hope this idea of Reed's works," Reed II answered. The three teammates did not feel reassured by these words at all. Reed II piloted the large creature upward for a while then drove into a nose dive. Sue gripped the back of the chair for dear life as they came toward the shockwaves.

"We're gonna die!" Johnny and Ben cried in unison as they collided with the shockwaves. Johnny and Ben were pressed against their chairs, Sue was thrown behind the chair and up against the back window of the Fantasticar, Reed was knocked off his feet. The only thing that kept him from being thrown forward and against the windshield were his feet which were placed against the backs of Johnny and Ben's chairs.

Reed's brown eyes reappeared, he looked around him bewildered. How did they end up like this? He wasn't even given the proper time to find out what had happened during his absence, a wave of pain assaulted his arm. He hunched over surprised. Reed stared down at his arm. He couldn't see it. Reed let out a soundless gasp. An electrical surge struck his body, he let out a cry of pain. The spectrum of colors he had seem before filled his vision, before he finally fell unconscious.

* * *

**(TBC)**

**Next: **VII: Corynorhinus (Finale)


	7. Part VII: Corynorhinus: Finale

**Part VIII: Corynorhinus (Finale)**

* * *

**(STARK LABS - Upper Manhattan - 11:00PM):**

* * *

"Do you think we'll see anything tonight?" Iron Man, the armored alter ego of Tony Stark, asked as he peered at the star filled sky through the telescope of his observation. There had been reports of a meteor shower falling over Earth earlier and he didn't want to miss it.

Captain America strolled over to his friend with a perplexed expression. Why was Tony even concerned about something like a meteor shower? "Have any reports on New York?" The Captain said, changing the subject. Iron Man looked away from his telescope with an exasperated sigh following after him. "No. Wasp hasn't checked in since that freak storm cloud started up.

Nothing from the X-men or Archangel. Don't worry about it," Iron Man said dryly. Captain America had half the sense to knock Stark over the head with his recently polished shield, but the memory of their last "dispute" hung heavy in his mind. "How can you say 'don't worry about it' Stark? Ten civilians are dead along with more injured than I can count!"

Iron Man finally took his attention completely off the sky and focused on the Captain. "That's true, but worrying over something out of your control isn't going to help. We helped those we could, that's all we can do. We'll find who or whatever caused this and deal with it. Until then, wait for reconnaissance to return. Stop bothering me," The man folded his arms across his chest.

Captain American wanted to protest but he knew Iron Man was right in the end. There was point in worrying over something that wasn't in his control. A thunderous boom suddenly rang out in the sky above them. Iron Man and Captain America rushed over to the edge of the observation deck; The night sky was illuminated with a dizzying mixture of colors, both men stared at each other wearily.

The storm cloud must've started back up. "Alert anyone in range. I'm going to go check it out," Without waiting for an answer Iron Man took the sky. "Damn it, Stark, get back here!" The Captain cried. Iron Man did not respond. Cursing, Captain America took off toward the communication room.

* * *

Iron Man watched wearily as the sky began to warp. "Uh-oh," Iron Man muttered. The Fantasticar and the alien bird broke materialized through the portal they created. Iron Man watched as the two objects plummeted faster and faster out of the sky until the two collided with the ground, destroying several buildings in the process. Of course they didn't stop there, it slid across the ground like an airplane without proper breaks.

Iron Man flew after the giant creature as fast he could, his jets on maximum. He had to stop that thing before anyone else was harmed or left dead in its wake. Once he caught up with the creature he threw himself in front of it. His hands pressed against the nose of the invader, all off his thrusters were now on reverse trying to kill the momentum of the invader. "ARRGGH!" For lack of a better word it was harder than it looked. Iron Man saw no change in speed and a intersection was coming up fast on them. There was nothing he could do.

Iron Man kept his thrusters on reverse but lost off hope of preventing an even bigger disaster when his back hit an invisible wall. Iron Man cried out in pain falling to the ground, the bird creature's structure was crushed from the sudden stop. Reactivating his thrusters Iron Man pulled himself out of the fall and shot up above the chaos. He had half-expected the Invisible Woman to be hovering above him. Instead he spotted Jean Grey, her hands outstretched using her telekinesis. "Sorry for the late arrival. Traffic was a killer," She joked.

Iron Man simply shook his head glad for any help at all. Once the invader was unmoving Jean lowered her shields. Like clockwork, the Avengers and the X-Men arrived on the scene in the Blackbird. The jet landed in front of the fallen creature. Iron Man landed next to Jean with a sigh, his body ached worse than when he had a heart attack. "Got idea what this is?" He asked. Jean shook her head whipping the sweat from her face.

"No. This thing has no conscious, but I sensed another entity. Those rookies are inside too," Jean answered. Iron Man was clueless for a moment by what Grey meant by 'rookies' then it dawned on him who she meant.

"You don't mean - the _Fantastic Four?_ _Who came up with that name_," Iron Man said, astonished. Jean nodded her head as her and Iron Man's teammates unloaded from the jet. "Yes, them. But there's one missing. Reed Richards," She said quietly turning to face metallic warrior. "Their leader? Can you sense him anywhere in New York?" Iron Man inquired. He grabbed the woman by the waist and began to descend toward the others.

Jean smiled in spite of herself. "I'd have to use cerbrebro for kind of search," Grey retorted humorously. "Fist thing's first. Let's take care of this mess then look for Dr. Richards."

* * *

The task of cleaning up the upper Manhattan side was no easy task as they knew before they started. It took about half an hour to cut through the thick hide of the bird-creature (with the use of Cyclops and Iron Man alike) to get Benjamin Grimm, Sue and Johnny Storm out their crushed flying vehicle. They were mostly unharmed from the crash itself thanks to Sue's shield, just shaken and bruised from being tossed about like rag dolls in their vessel. Naturally, Cyclops was questioned by Susan for the whereabouts of Reed.

Cyclops or the anyone else for that matter, couldn't give her the answer she was looking for. Jean assured the younger woman that they would look for him as soon as this mess was dealt with. "There's no point getting worked up until we know what's happened to him," Jean said (ignoring the winks from Johnny). Susan ignored the woman's last comment and wanted to leave. The X-men had no qualms over their leaving, however, they were stopped by an armed men under the command of S.H.I.E.L.D.

They had more than a few problems with S.H.I.E.L.D. upon their arrival. They wanted and did take Annihilus, his followers and into their vessel custody. Fury did so but not without complaint from Cyclops. Captain America had a minor problem with Fury's team just taking the invaders without a proper explanation as to why they even bothered to help them out now. They didn't seem too concerned when New York City was attacked by storm cloud and people were being killed by lightening or vanishing into thing air; According to the Wasp who had been transported to the Bronx area whilst in Manhattan.

Beast explained that there was probably a time-fluxuation in the space-time continuum caused by the storm cloud. Nick Fury (or "Patch-eyed" as Wolverine so aptly named him) explained their interference was on a need-to-know-basis and the lot of them would be informed when it was _convenient_. The Captain and Cyclops would've argued further but Storm separated the tiro before anything else could happen. They could do nothing but watch as Nick Fury's men took over the crash site. An hour later, Fury ordered the Avengers, X-men and Fantastic Four off the crash site on penalty of death if they refused to move.

"What a creep," Sue grumbled when the Blackbird was in the air. She watched her brother leaning in the chair on the left side of the jet behind Storm. She knew he was just trying to get the weather witch's attention like had tried with Dr. Grey. Storm ignored him by staring blankly the window. In the front Cyclops piloted the jet and Jean co-piloted. Wolverine sat in front of Ben who had been wedged in-between the chairs. "Yeah, well, that's the kind of people we've got working in the government," Ben chirped scratching his head.

"What do you think happened to good ol' Reed?" Johnny asked leaning forward in his chair. He gave a sniff of Storm's shoulder length hair. Storm gave off a warning, rasing her hand so that it was in front of the Human Torch's face. Her fingers crackled with electricity. Johnny leaned back in his chair quickly. Sue stared out the window beside her, the night sky above the city was illuminated by the stars, occasionally whips of clouds would pass her window. When Sue didn't answer, Johnny tried something else. "Maybe he got eaten by the bird thing. . .," He was promptly silenced by a force of Sue's offensive shield.

Johnny cried out as he pushed against the cool surface of the metallic wall and window. "Ow . . ," Johnny squeaked. Ben rolled his eyes, he rubbed his rocky eyelids with his fingers. He hoped they weren't going to do this the entire way to the Baxter Building. Jean turned her seat around to examine the silent blonde. "Susan, would you like to accompany us to Westchester or return to the Baxter Building?" Jean inquired softly. Susan turned head slowly to meet the telekinetic's green eyes. The expression on her face wasn't entirely a kind one, giving the impression that she was annoyed by the woman's presence. "The Baxter Building will be fine, thank you," Sue answered stiffly.

Jean nodded to Sue then nodded to her husband-to-be. Cyclops nodded back and steered the Blackbird in direction of B.B. Sue felt her stomach twist in knots when the jet gave a lurch, she forced back the bout of nausea that washed over her. "Just a little turbulence," Cyclops informed briefly. Johnny rolled his eyes uneasily as he grabbed the arms of his chair. Why did he get on this plane? He could've easily flown back to the Baxter Building! The trip back to the Baxter was a short one given the speed Cyclops was flying at in stealth mode. To Sue it was as though she closed her eyes and the next moment Cyclops was saying, "Destination reached. We're right above the Baxter Building."

Sue, Ben, and Johnny rose from their seats and proceeded down the stairs. Johnny actually flew down out of the jet glad to flaunt his power in front of Storm and Jean. Ben climbed some of the stairs then jumped, he landed on the roof with a small thud. Sue glanced at all the X-men. "Thanks for your help," She said. Jean sent a reassuring smile in the woman's direction. "We'll let you know if we find him. It shouldn't be long," Dr. Grey answered. Sue nodded, but not believingly. She hovered out of the jet down to the roof next to Ben.

Johnny came down a moment later as the Blackbird phased out of sight and the sound of its jets roaring off into the distance could be heard. Since lingered between the three teammates for the longest time. "Well - I'm glad to be out that hell hole. I dunno about you guys, but I'm seriously starving!" Johnny gave his sister a wack on the back. He ran off down the emergency exit stairs into the building. Sue gave a scoff.

"He's so simple-minded," She grumbled folding her arms across her chest. Ben shrugged his shoulders. "He takes after _somebody_," The Golem chuckled dryly, walking off. Sue lingered on the rooftop for a while longer, her blue-eyed gaze focused on the sky that seemed so far away now. Sue walked off the rooftop down into the building, trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder.

* * *

**(Four weeks later):**

* * *

Like most things there was little that surprised Reed Richards. He remembered he could say such things without hesitance and with confidence. Well, that was until the recent happenings to himself and the world. Ultimately caused by his own creation and curiosity. Sufficed to say, he was glad there was something in the world -or not of his world–- that surprised him. He just wished that the source of surprise wasn't linked to himself.

Reed stared down at his hands, he could see both of them now, no traces of his affliction in sight. Reed felt as though he should've been happy, but he wasn't. In fact he didn't _feel_ anything. It was as if the nerves in his body died.

_What did happen?_ He stared out into the distance, the environment was familiar to him. Alkali Lake, in Canada. Strange he would be in such a place since he had never actually traveled to Canada beyond a picture in the _National Geographic_. Staring down at himself, he realized he no longer wore his tattered uniform, but the clothing he had been wearing before he was torn away by the behemoth.

Blue dress shirt and jeans. Reed scratched his head in confusion, where was he anyway? Why was he so calm? Shouldn't he be panicking - over _something_? He moved slowly across the rocky terrain of the shore watching the water further out ripple in the wind. Reed walked a little further until he caught sight of the dam just across the lake, he found himself scratching his head again.

"Hmm? How do I get out of here?" He wondered aloud. The wind howled as though to answer question, there was no way Reed would understand blowing wind. He wasn't spiritually linked to the earth' or whatever those kind of people call themselves.

"Can't wake up?" Asked a voice. Reed turned abruptly startled. A woman with flaming red hair approached him dressed in a lab coat, a maroon turtleneck and matching knee length skirt. Her hair was pulled up in a pony tail and a pair of square glasses framed her face. Reed undoubtedly thought this was a figment of his imagination. After all she was skinnier than Sue and a had the look of a retired model about her; Defiantly the makings of a character he made up at thirteen years old. Folding his arms across his chest he stared her straight in the eye. "I'm not sure what you mean? 'Can't wake up'?" He repeated.

The redhead nodded her head in affirmative. She looked toward the dam with a perplexed expression then turned back Reed. "A result of strength not your own, your body ends up overcompensating and collapses. The planet disease," She said. Reed raised a single eyebrow in confusion. He figured he was unconscious from overtaxing his body.

_But. . . _"Planet disease? What's that?" He asked. Jean titled her head to the side smiling. "From what your other personality told me the Planet Disease is a defense of the Negative Zone. Its secondary defense in fact. I managed to eradicate the disease with a simple carbon dioxide supplement - Didn't he tell you this?" She asked.

Reed glared at the woman; Sure, Reed II had told him that whatever happened to him was a result of _passing through_ the N-Zone, not that it was called _Planet Disease_. "I see," The woman's voice broke through his thoughts. "So he didn't tell you about that little detail." Reed stared at her through his narrowed gaze. Did she just read his thoughts or take his silence as 'no' to her question? He couldn't be sure, this was his mind -he thought- after all. "Where is Reed anyway?" Reed asked. Jean's eyes searched around the area as though she could actually spot the spiky orange haired teen.

"I'm not sure, I think he left soon after you became aware in your own mind. Oh!" The redhead's hand flew to her mouth her eyes widened behind her glasses. Reed sighed in dismay, he wished he could make this woman disappear.

"Where are my manners," She closed the distance between them and extended her hand. "My name is Jean Grey." Reed's eyebrows raised considerably this time. He blinked like a bewildered animal as he examined her from head to toe, Jean tried to contain her amusement as he did this. The mutant community's loudest voice against mutant registration. He shook her hand clumsily feeling like a giddy teenage boy. He didn't think Jean Grey was this pretty in person. _Maybe its just my mind enhancing her beauty._

Jean raised her eyebrows this time. "I'm flattered by what you think of me, truly. However, I think we need to focus on waking you up," Jean said firmly, taking her hand out of his. Reed shoved his hands into his pants pockets his gaze shifting back to the lake surface. "So we're in my mind," He in more of a statement than a question. Jean nodded her head slowly almost apologetically he noticed. "You we bad shape when we found you. I was surprised really; With a body like yours, I assumed you'd be able to sustain minimal injuries depending on the nature of affliction," Jean said.

Reed shrugged his shoulders indifferently feeling mildly embarrassed. "Yeah, well, I'm still new to this body myself," He answered quietly. "Where did you find me exactly?" Jean blinked at his question. "Oddly enough _in_ the Alkali Lake. Cerbrebro picked up two energy signatures but only found you," She explained briefly.

"Right now your below Charles Xavier's Mansion in the medical unit. I'm speaking to you through telepathy of course. You've been here for four weeks now since we found you." Reed nodded his head. Four weeks wasn't too bad a time of absence, he hoped Sue wasn't too angry with him. "And the others? How are they? How's Sue?" He asked eagerly. Jean raised a hand to silence him, her hand found its way to her forehead which she began to massage She had never been connected to a person for this long, the strain of her powers were began to get to her.

"Sue and the others are fine and back at the Baxter Building. They're worried about you. We haven't told them about you yet. I thought it would be best until we at least got you stable enough to get their hopes up," She said smiling.

"So I'm okay now?" Reed inquired. Jean nodded placing a hand on his shoulder. "Physically yes, you're the picture of recovering health. How do you feel mentally, emotionally?" Reed shrugged his shoulders, besides the shock of being in the presence of Jean Grey in _his mind_, Reed wasn't sure how he felt mentally or emotionally. He was unconscious, surely that counted for the lack of emotion he wasn't feeling. Jean seemed to understand and nodded her head. "Well, okay. I'll see if I can help along the process of your waking, but you have to do the rest yourself." Reed stared at her sideways. "The process is as simple as waking up from a nightmare or a dream," Jean simplified.

That sounded simple enough Reed thought shrugging her hand off his shoulder, he stepped away from Jean. He faced the lake. If they found him in that body of water maybe he could wake himself by going back in. Jean seemed to know what he was thinking and raised her hands so that they were facing the water. Reed grunted in surprise as a force very similar to Sue's shot past him impacting against the water. The water began to churn wildly, a moment later it parted to reveal the muddy ground. She was a regular female Moses.

Reed turned to steal a look at Jean who gestured to the lake with her green eyes. Reed was hesitant at first but took a step forward and soon began to walk until he reached the seabed, he sighed uneasily. In a normal dream things like being crushed wouldn't kill you, you'd just wake up.

But he was unconscious not dreaming, would the result be the same? He wondered. Jean watched Reed's tense back for a while wondering herself if what she was doing was the right way to wake him up. A second later she released the water from her physic hold, the water rushed up to meet Reed and swallowed him whole.

* * *

Jean Grey opened her eyes, she smiled at the metallic surfaces of the medical unit. The familiar beep of the heart monitor let her know her patient was still alive. She could feel his mind rouse back into consciousness, his hand was the first thing that moved. It pressed itself against his face proceeding to rub it. Jean decided to help along the waking process.

"Reed," It was the first time she called him by name. "Dr. Richards can you hear me?" Reed's eyes snapped open clearly dilated, he stared up at the red blur standing over him. He tired to swallow but his throat closed up, he coughed and pushed himself upright. His entire body exploded with pain that spread through his muscles. Reed gritted his teeth, he focused his attention on clearing his vision in spite of his pain. Jean stared down at the monitor, brain activity was erratic. She glanced at the man in beside her worriedly.

"Reed? Do you remember me?" She asked uneasily. Reed turned to meet her green eyed gaze, his face indicated he was confused for a moment. Soon his eyes blinked in recognition. "Jean - Dr. Jean Grey?" He said uncertainly. Jean smiled nodding her head. "Welcome back to the land of the living,"

Reed let out tired sigh, resting his chin against his chest. A stupid grin graced his chapped lips. He glanced at his arm, he could still see it like he had in the dream. The so-called Planet Disease was gone from his body. Reed relaxed as events of previous events came rushing back to him, he glanced at Jean again. She was busy removing the wires from his chest and arms. Did she actually hear what he thought about her. "About what I was thinking, miss Grey. . . ," Jean waved her at him. "Its all right. I get that kind of thing all the time Dr. Richards.

Their your thoughts; Technically I was invading your privacy by listening in on them," Jean said pushing her glasses up on her nose. Reed left little relieved by her words, he didn't feel as bad as would've if she were offended. Jean placed the wires aside and began to feel his skin. When she had first done this his skin was rough and peeling. According to her analysis of his blood, his system was deteriorating from long exposure to the disease and the Negative Zone's dying atmosphere. Now it was as soft as normal skin should be, not a trace of abnormality. This information was no easy task to retrieve— his skin refused to allow the needle to puncture it at first.

And a surgical blade didn't leave a mark when she tried to cut him. It took a little suggestive thought-probing to get his body to behave accordingly. She wondered why these kinds of symptoms didn't appear in the others since they ventured into the Negative-Zone as well. Reed swung his legs over the edge of the table and attempted to stand. He gripped the table at the first sign of weakness in his knees.

"Do you happen to have any normal clothes, I feel a little too exposed in just my boxers," Reed stated sheepishly. Jean looked toward the table across from her, Reed watched her brow crinkle as she concentrated on the object. A pair of pants and a gray hooded sweat jacket floated in his direction, Reed grabbed them out of the air. He sent a grateful smile in her direction, Jean bashfully gave him a smile in return. He pulled the pants over his legs careful not to fall over in the process, he slipped the jacket on last. Just as he opened his mouth to inquire about shoes, a pair of slippers floated over to him. Reed put them on and thanked Jean again.

She just waved it off unable to anymore of his thanks, he was a bit too polite, she noted. Reed watched her turn the medical machines off with her mind, while he did this he practiced taking small steps across the room. After she was done shutting down the machines Jean traveled over to the door where Reed was currently leaning against. "How are you feeling? Any dizziness, nausea?"

Reed shook his head stretching his hand past Jean's head. He grinned, he could still manipulate his body the way he wanted to. "Do you know the state of your internal system, Dr. Richards?" Jean wondered aloud. Reed retracted his arm in response. His thin lips pressed together as his brow creased in confusion. "No. Basically I assumed whatever happened to my internal system was the same as what happened to my skin, bones, and muscles so to speak," Reed countered, uneasily. "It should've, but its not that simple. Technically, if you body's internal system stayed the same then they would've torn from how many times you've elongated yourself. When I examined your X-Ray, I noticed that well, that your internal organs were missing."

When Jean paused Reed's face balanced, his swallowed roughly feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Jean placed her hands on both his arms to keep him steady. "Its not all bad, believe me. There are a lot of things that need some proper explaining, like your ability to breathe; You have no lungs. Naturally, you've still got a heart and bone structure. Its just the deeper internal systems.

In replacement for your intestines, you have a bacterial sack that breaks down anything you put in your body and stores it up like a battery. In truth you could go without food for a longer periods of time compared to the normal human being. It would be weeks before you started feeling hungry again," As Jean explained, Reed couldn't help but notice the gleam in her eyes was the same that Sue had described in his own when something fascinated him.

In truth he should've told Jean to stop, to prevent the eerie details of his new found body from coming out. Nevertheless there was a strange sort of closure that replaced his panic, like a burning question had been answered and laid to rest. "Are you sure your all right? You look like you could use a little more rest," Jean said. It was a more of a suggestion than a question. Reed shook his head swallowing roughly.

This was just too weird, weirder than anything! "I'm okay. I could use a little air though," Reed said. His eyes were hopeful, Jean quickly got the message. _Follow me then. I'm sure your feeling more than a little cooped up,_ Jean's voice echoed in his head. Reed braced himself for a mild headache but the pain never came about.

_My method of telepathy is different from your friend's. Unlike his, I don't need a connection to the body, just a entry way into the mind,_ Jean sent him another reassuring smile before pulling him away from the wall. Reed slowly removed his hand from her grasp and followed the redhead down the illuminated corridor toward the elevator. As they ventured through the corridors, Reed couldn't help to feel impressed; They certainly were a organized group of individuals, compared to himself.

* * *

Upon arrival to the top floor Reed was almost ran over by a stampeding group of children who paid little attention to him beyond brief glances. Reed figured Jean was used to this kind of behavior because she stepped aside before they had a chance to bump into her and walked ahead of Reed. He gave their retreating backs a linger glance then turned to catch up with the telepath when he collided with another body. Books went scattering everywhere on the ground before his feet. Rogue huffed in dismay as she bent down to pick the books up.

"S-sorry about that," Reed grumbled stepping back when his leg was tapped on. Rogue resumed a standing position when all her notebooks were in her possession once more. She scowled up at the man under the impression that he was a student when she realized that he was no face she was familiar with. In fact he was an adult and not a student! Reed side-stepped past the busty young woman preparing to leave when . . ."Hey, don't I know you?" Rogue's Southern tinged voice asked, tinged with mild excitement. Reed turned in response with a perplexed glint in his eyes. "Uh, no, you don't," He said hastily trying to leave.

Rogue followed after him trying to get a better look at his face. "Yeah I do. Your that guy that apart of the team in New York City. The fantastic four, right?" She inquired further. Reed halted in his steps, she was about inquisitive as his sister Libby. A little annoying as well. "Yes, that right. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic. Whatever you wanna call me," He said offhandedly. Rogue shifted her weight from foot to foot as she stared at his face for what seemed like forever to the scientist. "I thought so. What are doing here?" Rogue inquired casually, holding her books tighter to her chest.

_He's way cuter than Johnny Storm._ Did he hear it come out of her mouth or her head? Reed narrowed his eyes, scratched his head pretending he didn't hear that. "I honestly don't know. I woke up here," He answered honestly. Rogue gave him a half-amused half-arid look. His hair did scream bed-hair, and his clothes were obviously not his own. "Did you get into a big fight or somethin'? Logan came back like that once, only he remembered how ended up in the med unit," Rogue laughed softly. There was certainly a story behind that one, Reed noted to himself.

Reed nodded his head trying to keep the boredom from showing on his face. He scratched his head again. "Something like that, yeah," He replied. Rogue nodded her head as well, her smile broadening. _Oh gosh, he looks bored. Did I talk too much? I should really be getting to class. Storm's gonna be furious with me!_ Reed blinked again. He heard her voice again but her mouth didn't move an inch. He grinned as Rogue flashed the near same expression Jean had in his mind. Her arm shout out quicker than he could blink, her gloved fingers spread.

"I'm Rogue, nice to meet you Mr. Richards," She said. He titled his head to the side as he grasped her hand and shook it. "Rogue?" He repeated grinning. The brunette shrugged her shoulders shyly, the white streaked hair in the front cascading over her right eye. "Its Marie actually, but all my friends all me Rogue so its pretty much my actual name nowadays. Marie is name I use outside the Mansion," Her voice suddenly fell distant. She glanced up at him questionably. "You're a mutant, right? Gifted?" Enid had surely made that point clear enough. Reed nodded, used to the word mutant being associated with himself. Rogue took her time to get what she had to say out, she didn't want to offend him if she got her wording wrong.

When she looked up again she realized he was still standing in front of her. Reed's eyebrow raised curiously. Rogue looked down blushing furiously. _He probably think's I'm a spaz or somethin',_ Rogue moaned without moving her lips again. On the contrary, Reed was a more of a spaz than she was, according to Johnny anyhow. He glared mentally at the memory. She looked up again, having gathered her composure.

"Well, if your like me, why isn't everyone treating you differently? They treat you guys like celebrities, but the rest of us like freaks. Diseases," Rogue said, a twinge of anger in her voice. Reed really didn't know how to answer that question; Other than Enid, no one he came in contact with ever treated him like a freak. If anything, Ben would probably have the answer for this girl's question.

He knew first hand how she felt. "I honestly don't know Rogue. My friend Ben Grimm (The Thing) could probably answer that better than I ever could," He answered. "People have always feared what they don't understand. They always will." Rogue's eyebrow twitched at the last comment. "Professor Xavier says that to us all the time," She said, a little disappointed.

Reed folded his arms across his chest. "He's smart man, your professor," He rebuked. "There's no absolute answer to a question like that. People are a strange being, they all have their opinions on this issue. That's what makes the question or answer somewhat of a un-absolute. You understand?" Rogue nodded her head. _No, but if I think about it maybe I will.._ She did it again. By then Reed had caught onto what was happening between them.

_Dr. Richards, the professor wishes to see you in his office. Take a left down the hall, walk past two closed doors and you'll find an open one. We're there._ Jean's voice echoed in Reed's mind barely giving Rogue's voice time to fade into the distance. Placing a hand on her should he gave it a squeeze. "Good. I hope you will," Reed answered before walking off. Rogue looked up from her feet in confusion, 'he hoped she would' what? She watched him go until he rounded the corner. Grinning like a school girl she ran down the hall in the opposite direction toward Storm's class. She was late enough as it was.

Reed spotted the open door Jean spoke of and entered the room. There he found two men standing across from each other behind a man in the wheel chair, Jean stood next to the professor. Reed stood in the middle of the floor with staring at the man he assumed was Professor Xavier. The man in the wheel chair moved forward, Reed grinned knowing his assumption was correct.

"Indeed. Hello, my name is Charles Xavier. I assume you know where you are?" He inquired. Reed nodded his head. "Westchester, New York. Your mansion for gifted youngsters," He replied. Xavier nodded his head. "This simply isn't _my_ mansion. This is a home for all mutants –- like yourself Dr. Richards–- who have no safe place to go as you should know. How are you feeling?" Charles added.

_Fine, considering that what happened to me,_ Reed thought wearily. He eyed the two men standing behind Jean and Xavier; They stances were less than welcoming and if he didn't know any better, they didn't like him. He had a strange feeling why, too. "Mr. Xavier, when do you think I can leave? Its not that I'm ungrateful for all you've done, but -."

You feel unwelcome? I wouldn't worry yourself about Wolverine or Cyclops. They're always like that when each other's company.

Erm, its not just that. My family's probably worried about me, Mr. Xavier. I've been gone four weeks.

Ah, yes, your absence. I am sure there are worried about you Mr. Richards. Is there no way can persuade you to stay on a day or two?

I'll leave tomorrow, if that's all right. There are a lot things I need to get straight in Manhattan. Mainly my head.

Its perfectly fine Mr. Richards. You've been through a terrible ordeal. One needs time to recover.

Reed nodded gratefully, his kept his eyes on the hardwood floor below him ignoring the hardened gazes of Logan and Scott. What did they have against him? "Dr. Richards," Charles' accented voice caused the man to look up. "Would you excuse us for a moment?" Reed's brown eyes darted to all four occupants of the room for a moment. Though he had no problem with excusing himself from the room, he couldn't help the surge of uneasiness and paranoia that welled inside his chest. With a curt nod he excused himself from the office, venturing down the hall though not too far. Jean walked over to the double doors and closed them softly. She turned so that she leaned slightly against the door, she glanced in Scott's general direction.

"Could you be a little more warmer to our guest?" Jean asked. Logan grunted in response and Cyclops shrugged with indifference. "Try telling saying that after you've been hit by him," Cyclops grumbled, his pride wounded. _Men!_ Jean thought furiously. "How is our guest Jean?" Charles said smoothly. Jean nodded her head hesitantly to the headmaster's words. "He seems fine professor. As I predicted the energy I sensed wasn't his, though it was coming from him. Whatever took him over and attacked Logan and Scott upon their arrival to the Alkali Lake is subdued now.

The mental blocks I put up should keep it oblivious to Dr. Richards and it restrained. Though there might be remnants of his abilities left in his system for a while," Jean scratched the back of her leg with her left foot. "I would've felt better if you had done it Professor."

Charles waved his hand in a non-dismissive manner. If there was one thing Jean underestimated it was her own abilities. In truth, she was becoming stronger with her telepathy everyday, her powers and mental blocks _nearly_ rivaled his own, though not by much. "I trust in your abilities, Jean. If you say it will hold it will hold. Now, where did this being come from?" He said hastily, resting his chin on the back of his hand. The redhead continued. "When I first entered Dr. Richards mind, 'he' was the first thing I saw. The other 'Reed'. I knew he was a foreign object, not belonging to any mental manifestation Dr. Richards created. When I asked he told me that he was the third defense for the Negative-Zone.

A entity that bonds itself with the invading object or being, creating a substitute vessel with the use of invader's DNA. The Planet Disease would be contracted by the invader and its structure would begin to break down. Electrical spasms, dry peeling skin and loss of solid form are the symptoms. Once that was done, it would return the invader back to its world and mentally connect with the invader, slowly taking over its body.

When the original mind is dominated the being uses it's body as a secondary vessel to destroy the invader's original planet before returning to the Negative Zone -with the host body- if the storm cloud failed," Jean finished. "The host body would decay further in the Negative Zone and die while the being that dominated it would return to its defensive manner, waiting for the next intruder."

"So its safe to assume, The 'Reed' attacking us wasn't the real _Dr. Reed Richards_?" Scott inquired curtly. Logan scoffed in disbelief. "He smelled like the Richards guy ta' me," Logan grumbled crunching down hard on his cigar. The memory of thousands of gallons of lake water lashing out at himself and Cyclops in a frantic manner in the hopes that it would hit them, made the feral mutant growl in anger.

Cyclops and himself had been looking around the area Jean had given them directions when the seemingly 'unconscious' Reed Richards came rising out of the water. With his eyes closed he was commanding the liquid to attack the two. Cyclops vaporized most of the oncoming water with this optic blasts but they had taken most of the brunt of Richard's attacks, being unable to move as fast as the water. They split up in hopes that they would tire the man down some, but Reed's attacks were a step ahead of them, landing ample blows on them with their every move. Effortless and non-taxing to him.

Finally Cyclops got the drop on him by narrowing the setting on his visor and shooting through the water, hitting his target square in the chest. Reed was initially stunned by the blast and rendered unconscious once more. Logan grumbled something else before turning his attention to the floor. Ignoring Logan's comment Jean nodded to Scott's question. "Yes, that's right. Whatever happened between the three of you was not Dr. Richard's intention," Jean said, fixing her glasses back onto her nose. Charles was all very intrigued by this new found information and at the same time concerned about the stability of Jean's mental blocks again the other Reed.

While he did not doubt Jean's powers, there was little he knew about Reed II and damage he could do to the world if he were escape his prison. Was it wise for them to let Dr. Richards out into the world unaware of what he held inside of him? Or would the real damage be done by telling him, thus causing the host to strain himself with worry? Both choices sounded bad, utterly complementing each other, but Charles decided to pick the first and not the latter. "Jean, I think its best that we send Dr. Richards on his way tomorrow as he requested," He said calmly.

"What!" All three of his 'students' looked at him as though he had grown two heads. "Professor you can't be serious. What happens if Jean's mental barrier fails and the _other_ Reed gets out? We'll have a problem on our hands," Scott said, horror struck. "And judging by how the guy can toss lake water, I'm betting its not the only thing he can do," Logan joked dryly. Jean said nothing, she watched the professor awaiting his answer. "Technically, as long as the other Reed is blocked he can do nothing to cause trouble.

As Dr. Richards knows nothing of this matter _for the time being,_ nothing can go wrong. Your objections are duly noted, but my decision is finale. Jean see if you can't find our guest a comfortable room to stay for the night," And that was all the professor would say on that subject. Logan and Scott left the room dejectedly paying no attention to Reed who resided against the wall staring down at his feet. Jean came out last closing the doors of the office, she turned prepared to look for Reed when she spotted him against the wall not too far from the office door itself.

Had he heard their conversation? She hoped not. "Dr. Richards?" Jean called hesitantly. Reed looked up from his feet in question, a groggy sort of look on his face. How long had he been standing here? Jean came up to him with an apologetic smile playing on her lips. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect to be so long," Jean said. Reed shrugged his shoulders. He was a guest and even though many hosts thought it rude to keep their 'guests' waiting, it was their house and whatever they had to talk about was obviously a little more pressing than finding a room for him to stay in. Not that was to say he didn't feel slightly shunted by how long she took. "Nothing to worry about.

And please, call me Reed. Dr. Richards makes me feel old. I've got these to do that for me," He pointed to the gray streaks in his curly brunette hair. "All right. Follow me, _Reed_," Jean said teasingly. Reed grinned and did as he was told. She lead him through the halls up the winding path of stairs down another hall where the adult bedrooms resided. He unconsciously dodged the teenagers as they rushed through the halls, though he almost fainted when one of them went right through him. Jean quickly explained to him that Kitty Pryde had the ability to walk through anything, sort of like a living ghost to a point. It still didn't help Reed rid the uneasy feeling that stuck with him afterward. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of walking, Jean lead him into a bedroom already prepared for sleeping in.

Reed looked around suspiciously; Either they were expecting him or this is how they left their bedrooms. With a wave her hand the lamps and track lights illuminated to life filling the dim room with light. Reed walked past her toward the bed, he sat down and gave it a pat. _It seemed comfortable enough_, he thought wearily. "You should be comfortable here. Are you hungry?" Jean asked. Reed shook his head, the only thing on his mind was sleeping. "Not at the moment, no. I think I'll just take a nap," He answered quietly. Jean stared at him surprised, he had just woken up and he was tired? Unconsciously she found herself probing his mind, the mental block was still in place.

A grunt from Reed indicated that he felt her buzzing about in his head. He glanced up at her with a annoyed look. "We're you just poking around in there?" Reed pointed to his head. Jean thought about lying but her better judgement got the better of her. "Yes, I thought something was wrong," Reed nodded his head, he laid on the mattress with a tired sigh. "Are you sure, you don't want to look around the mansion? Surely something will interest you?" Jean inquired, hoping to change his mind.

"M'tired, Sue," Reed slurred half-asleep already. Jean watched him uneasily; The deadpan look he had given her moments ago made her wonder if the other Reed was breaking through her defenses. He didn't seem like the kind of person to anger easily.

_Then again, telepath's seem to bring out the uglier side of people,_ Jean mused. Reed's face seemed to twitch no sooner the thought completed itself. Jean barely noticed it as she placed his legs into the bed. She left the lights on in the bedroom, closing the door behind her she exhaled heavily. He was a strange character, not at all how people told her he was. Jean rubbed her face feeling a headache coming on, she ventured down the hall wondering where Scott had gone off to.

* * *

To everyone's surprise, Reed had stayed asleep until the very next day. Many of the children wondered where the strange man they had seen earlier had gone. Storm explained that he was sleeping in the guest room. Upon learning this, several of the children had peered into the room to see him, curious to know what he looked like standing still.

Others just wanted to see "Mr. Fantastic" cause they could disobey Jean's firm orders to leave him alone. Reed had barely been awake for any of the children's ventures into his temporary bedroom, though he had remembered hearing hushed whispers, girlish giggles, the phrase "oh gosh, he's cute!" repeated four times by different girls and his door closing more than six times. When the entire mansion was sleeping, Reed found himself waking every fifteen minutes from a nightmare he couldn't remember. When the next day had actually come Reed felt less rested than he had when he first awakened from his unconscious state.

Even worse he was feeling starved, like he hadn't eaten for weeks. He had managed to find his way to the kitchen with the help of his previous encounter - Rogue -. Reed ate three bowls of cereal before his stomach actually felt satisfied. Rogue gave him a short tour around the Mansion, most of them her favorite places. Half an hour later she had to meet her friends for "teenage activities" as she dubbed them. All the activity in this large building was making Reed feel over 40 and he was in his early thirties. Finally when it came to the subject of his leaving, Scott Summers (he knew better as Cyclops) offered to take him to New York in the Blackbird, their jet. It was the quickest way back to the city, plus a excellent way of being unnoticed by the public. Reed liked this idea. So, he prepared himself for the ride home accompanied by Logan, Ororo (Storm), Scott, and Jean.

His uniform was returned to him newly mended, he thanked Kitty for taking the time fix it. The only persons who bid him farewell were Rogue and the professor, he didn't mind. Though it was the first time Reed ever rode in a jet, it was certainly a smoother and quieter ride than he expected. The X-men were quiet too. _How are you feeling?_ - It was Jean. He smiled. _Like I have butterflies in my stomach. I think I'm getting jet-sick too,_ he joked. Jean shook her head as the Baxter Building came into view. She could feel relief spreading through her husband-to-be's mind, a small smile formed on his lips. _I know you think otherwise, but it was nice to have another adult in the mansion. _

_Even if you were sleep all day yesterday,_ Jean relayed. Reed felt his cheeks burn slightly at the reassuring smile she was giving him. _Er, thanks, Dr. Grey._ He was just happy to be home and not in the mansion. The tension he was feeling from everyone was sufficating. The Blackbird lowered its invisible structure down to the rooftop, Reed sat up from his chair a little shaky on his legs. With a short wave good-bye Reed jumped out of the jet onto the rooftop. _See you later miss Grey,_ he thought as the inside of the jet vanished from sight. He did not wait to find out if the Blackbird had left, he quickly made his way down the rooftop stairway into the Baxter Building.

Reed grinned like a teenager at the sight of the familiar hallway. He ran down the hall toward his apartment door, surprisingly it was unlocked. Slight worry clouded his excitement as he stepped into the apartment, on the floor resided Johnny, Sue's, and Ben's old shoes. He stepped out of his boots. "Hello? Ben? Sue?" Reed ventured down the hall into the living room, he was surprised to say the least to find his living room cleaner than he remembered leaving it. It wasn't just the living room either, as he ventured further into the apartment he realized everything was cleaned and put up in orderly manner. The items in the cupboards to the fridge were straighter than before (put up according to food or dishware). Becoming concerned about the whereabouts of his friends Reed traveled down the hall to the bedrooms.

He wondered where they were the first time he called out to them, he prayed that he wasn't in another universe as he grabbed Ben's door knob. Turning he peered inside the bedroom, there on the ground he found Ben snoring loudly. He wanted to rush into the bedroom and give his friend the biggest hug he could muster. He decided against when he realized Ben was wearing no pants.

Biting his lip he closed the door and ventured to Johnny's bedroom door. He was surprised to find, Johnny lying on the bed fast asleep as well. Reed left his door open and ventured into his bedroom, instead of Sue he found Enid lying on his bed wrapped in his sheets. His heart skipped a beat, what was Enid still doing here?

He pressed further into the bedroom almost scared to wake his sister. If he was going to start with anyone, Enid seemed like the right person to start with. He sat down on the edge of the bed going over in his head how he would wake her. While he doing this he was unaware of his blue eyes fluttering open.

Enid exhaled slowly rubbing her face, she pushed herself upright and glanced around the room sleepily. She wasn't even sure why she was here, she was supposed to be in - Enid's blue eyes fell on the stranger sitting next to her. Reed did a double take realizing that his sister was awake, he grinned. "Hey-" Enid let out a blood curdling scream, loud enough to blow his eardrums. Enid grabbed the pillow behind her and began to pummel the man before he could strike her (not that he was). Reed fell off the bed continuing to shield himself with his arms when she followed after him.

What a wicked left arm! Enid continued to attack Reed until she felt his hand grab the pillow and toss it aside, she prepared to scream again when his hand flew to her mouth. "_Enid it's me! Reed! Your brother!_" He cried. Reed could hear the footfalls of the others approaching his bedroom door as he watched his sister; Enid's eyes watered until they seemed like glittering blue diamonds.

Her _brother,_ her bother, her brother! He was actually in front of her! He wasn't a figment of her imagination. Her blank face fell as she began to sob. Reed expected a hug from his sister, instead he got a slap on the face. He recoiled, hurt and surprised. Enid slapped him two more times on the same cheek before she launched herself upon him. Reed fell over on his back clutching Enid as strongly as she was holding him, her body trembled with sobs as her grip got tighter.

"You are my brother, right? Your not that — other guy that looked my brother?" She sobbed, laughing in spite of herself. Reed nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm Reed. The kid that blew up his father's garage, Reed Richards," He answered. Enid hugged him tighter. Though he felt happier than he had in four weeks, Reed couldn't dismiss the fact that Enid had disowned him for his being a mutant. But he would leave it alone until she brought it up again and plead with Enid. Right now he wanted to hug his sister while he could.

"Enid, I thought I heard you screaming. What's wrong babe- Reed!" Johnny's astonished voice hardly startled the older man. He pushed himself up off the ground and looked up from behind his sister's blonde hair with a weak grin wondering if Johnny was going to pummel him. Johnny just stood where he was staring at the man he believed to be dead. The sandy blonde quickly pulled himself out of his shock then proceeded to fold his arms across his chest.

"I've got half a mind to kill you Richards. You had us thinking you were dead," He sneered pathetically. Reed pushed himself from the off the ground carrying Enid with him, she clung onto him for dear life. "I'm sorry about the entire thing, Johnny, really I am," Reed stated firmly, trying to keep Enid in his grasp. "I hadn't expected this —-." He trailed off, Ben and Sue were coming up behind Johnny, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

"What's the drama-queen crying' about—" Sue's words trailed off at the sight of Enid clutching her ex-boyfriend, who - for lack of a better word, looked better than he had the last time she saw him. A thousand things ran through her mind. More prominently the need to throttle Reed for making her worry. _I can do that later._ Sue rushed forward and threw her arms over Enid and pressed her lips against Reed's face.

Ben decided to be the composed one of the group along side Johnny. "I take it the X-Geeks found ya, egghead?" Ben asked."You are the real Reed right?"

Reed rolled his eyes irritably. "Yes, I am the Reed Richards of this day and age, not the doppelganger! The X-men _in_ the Alkali Lake, surprisingly," He explained.

Ben and Johnny stared dumbly at the man struggling to stand correctly. Reed shrugged absentmindedly. "I don't remember ending up there, though," He admitted. "Enid, Sue, let go. I need to breathe." Johnny shot Ben a look who did the same in the return. Shaking their heads they moved forward and proceeded to remove the two females from Reed's body. It was surprisingly difficult for Johnny who was stuck with Enid, he had to pry her fingers loose from their entwined position before easily dragging her away.

Sue stepped back calmly before Ben had a chance to lay a finger on her. The scientist slumped falling onto his bed with a heavy sigh. "Thanks," He heaved, pressing his face against his hand. All four occupants of the Baxter Building were not sure if the Reed Richards in front of them was indeed the same man they had last seen in the N-Zone, in spite of his reassurances. "Reed," Enid started. "What happened to the glasses I gave you?" Enid folded her arms crossed angrily. Her glasses? Reed thought blankly scratching his head.

He pondered; The faint memory of Enid slipping a pair of glasses on his nose for identification played back in his head. They must've fallen off. "I think I lost them," He answered dumbly.

Enid kicked him in the shin, Reed recoiled again grabbing the lower part of his leg. She scoffed whipping her face with the back of her hand, just like him to loose something of hers. Sue stepped forward pushing his sister aside, Enid stumbled sideways falling over. "Do you remember what happened? Anything at all?" She asked. Reed's brow wrinkled, he explained what he could remember after he regained control of his body as the Fantasticar was bombarded by the I.D.M.'s shockwaves to when he awoke the medical unit of Xavier's mansion. ". . . They were nice for the most part. I got the feeling that Wolverine or Cyclops didn't like me. They were hiding something too I think. . .," Reed trailed off. "What happened with you guys?" Johnny and Ben exchanged glances then looked to Sue who did not return the glance.

Sue explained him in the finest detail what had occurred after he disappeared, Reed listened silently absorbing all the information. He scratched his head in exasperation, his mind was put at ease at the news that Annihilus had been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the I.D.M. declared officially destroyed from an overload. "I don't think any of that matters right now," Sue said sternly. "What matters is that Reed is back. Safe and sound. We'll deal with the X-men and S.H.I.E.L.D. later." She placed a hand on her hip and the other on Reed's shoulder.

Reed glanced up at her with a questioning glance. He stood up with a sigh, not sure if he was suffering from jet-leg or sleep deprivation. Scratching his face he looked to where Enid had fallen only to find she was missing. His face fell further. "Where's Enid?" He blurted, alarmed. Johnny pointed the doorway.

"I saw her leave just a few minutes ago," Johnny responded. Reed pushed past his comrades, he moved hurriedly down the hall into the living room. Johnny watched his friend's retreating back for a minute then turned to face the grim face of his sister. "Should we go after him?" He inquired casually. Ben shook his head attempting to fold his arms. "Let him be kid.

This is something he's got to learn on his own," The man answered. Reed spotted Enid scrambling to tie her boots laces up, she hadn't even gotten the second boot on. "Where are you going?" Reed asked. Enid looked up from tying her shoe, she recovered quick enough to plaster a smile on her face. "Hey - Reed. Big brother," She squeaked out. Reed shoved his hands into his pants pocket dejectedly, he knew where this was going.

_. . .Why isn't everyone treating you differently? They treat you guys like celebrities, but the rest of us like freaks. Diseases._ Rogue's words echoed off the vacant halls of his mind, he watched his sister's movement. Like a scared rabbit waiting to leap to safety, away from the predator that hunted her. But Reed was no predator, he was her brother of flesh and blood. Even if she disowned him. Enid slipped her foot into her other boot brushing her hair out of her face, a defense mechanism that worked when she was seven years old, he didn't know any better. "You not leaving already, Enid. I just got back," Reed said, almost in a childish tone. Enid continued to dress herself for leaving the building.

Originally she had not intended to stay at the Baxter Building, but upon learning of the disappearance of her brother from Sue (who had returned moments after Enid was freed from time suspension) Enid was compelled to stay until he returned. "I've really got to get going. I promised Libby I'd visit before heading back to Canada," Enid said hurriedly. Reed watched her head for the front door, he thought of letting her go but the stubborn streak in him refused to do so until he got a straight answer. In three long strides he caught up with his sister and grabbed her arm.

Enid shrank away as if she had been hit, her eyes clenched shut in fear. Reed tired to ignore this as he said, "Why do you hate mutants so much?" Enid stared up at him blinking in puzzlement, she had expected that come out of his mouth. She shrugged his hand off her hand and leaned up against the wall casting her gaze down at the floor. Reed stood next to the door to ensure Enid didn't try to bail out before a proper explanation was given. "Do you remember that girl, Emma Frost?" She began hesitantly. Reed nodded; Emma Frost was something of a popular girl in Enid's high school during fifth grade, and was usually found recruiting new members for her group of followers just before graduation.

Reed faintly remembered his sister rambling about being selected to apart of Frosts' group, but paid no attention to it at the time. "Well, do you remember on your graduation day, when I didn't come? Emma had called me half hour before the ceremony, said she had something to show me. So I went to the back of the school -I'm not sure what I was thinking was going to happen- and the next thing I know, Emma's girls were on me. I tried, and tried to get off me but it couldn't move. Something was in my head, telling me not to move." Enid laughed dryly. "I didn't move! They clawed at me, kicked me-" Enid's voice seemed to trail off as a funny buzzing in his head formed and an image of several girls crouched on the ground, clawing, actually clawing, his sister with their unnaturally long nails, appeared in his head. Emma stood across from the chaos taking place before her, staring down at her reflection in her iced hand.

Frost called off her friends, all six girls stood up and their nails retracted to their normal state. One went as far as licking the trail of blood off her hand. They all hastily made their escape, sniggering as they went. Enid laid there trembling, her hands running across her scratched body unable to find the right spot to hold. Her entire body stung with pain. She pulled herself off the ground as though nothing had happened, her tears betrayed her outward behavior as she rushed off school grounds toward home. Reed was brought of his sister's thoughts by her voice. " . . .I remember Mom asking me what happened and telling her I fell through some bushes," Enid sniffled.

"I don't get it. Why'd she beat you up Enid?" Reed asked. Enid raised an eyebrow at her brother. "I told her that her powers were weird. I mean, who would want your body turning to ice? I thought the mind-power stuff was cool though. Emma, however, took my comment the wrong way," She brushed her hair out of her face in a way to compose herself again. "Anyway, I considered telling the principle, but Emma warned me that I would get a worse beating than at _my_ graduation. So I didn't say anything. A lot of the mutants started making fun of me. Others just . . well, I didn't care what other mutants thought. At first hating them was just a defense mechanism at first, but then it turned out to be true the more I was around them." Enid flashed her brother a bitter smile. "I hated mutants, they were right about that.

I never thought it would happen to my brother of all people." Reed scowled. Silence lingered between the two for the longest time, neither of them willing to stare each other in the eye afterward. Reed blinked a few times to relieve the stinging behind his eyes, when he finally gazed at his sister he found himself enveloped in a affectionate hug; Funny, it didn't feel that way to him. Enid's arms felt as though they wanted to be anywhere but around him. Enid pressed her cheek against his, her lips close to his ear.

"So, now you know. I know it shouldn't change anything between us, but it does. I'm afraid of you, and I can't help it," Enid's voice trembled. Whether with anger or remorse Reed was not sure, he pushed himself away from his sister and watched her pick up her duffle bag she had left at front. Reed stared at his sister angrily. "You can help it. You just don't want to," He said in a eerily calm voice.

"No, I can't help hating them," Enid rebuked equally angry. _That's your excuse?_ Reed wanted to say this to his sister but when he looked up she was out the door. He hardly flinched when the door slammed shut, he locked it with a forceful shove of the bolt and twist of the handle. Reed kicked the wall in an attempt to vent his frustration, he clenched his hands into fists trying to restrain from punching the wall as well. The loose strains of hair hanging against his forehead fluttered up from the rush of energy that swirled around Reed.

Reed's brown eyes flew open and a sudden force pulled away from his body. "_Gah!"_ The brunette was thrown against the wall. His stomach twisted in knots, he hunched over clutching his stomach, it hurt like hell. There was a sudden cry of surprise from the others that pulled him out of his sorrow and anger.

Pushing away from the wall he rushed out of the hall into the living room. "What the-?" Reed looked about himself staring at the state of the living room. Everything was in the air! "Sue? Sue!" He called, noting how weak and broken his voice sounded to his ears. Prepared to venture down the hall when Sue, Johnny, and Ben came hovering into the living room with befuddled expressions on his face. "Sue, are you doing this?" He stammered. Sue swam her way out from between Johnny and Ben reaching for Reed, Reed grabbed her hand and attempted to pull her down. She refused to come down. "No! I was talking to Ben and Johnny when this happened!" She cried.

Reed looked about the room further perplexed, he closed his eyes his brow creasing. Sue watched him worriedly when she suddenly felt herself fall from out the air. she scream upon impact with the floor, followed by Ben and Johnny. Reed cringed when everything around him crashed to the ground in most of their respected positions. He was aghast, even frightened by what had just happened. Reed pulled a groaning Sue up from the floor, he looked away to inspect the living room once more. There were a lot of things out place, he was not favoring the splintered wood of the floor after Ben's landing, Johnny was simply lucky that he wasn't under Ben when the phenomena ended.

"Are you all alright?" He inquired quietly. Sue nodded her head slowly checking her chest for any bruises. Johnny crawled across the floor in a sort of drunken daze, his body felt like jell-O after his crash landing. "Peachy," The younger Storm squeaked. Ben raised a large thumb in his childhood friend's direction. "Just a little sore," Ben lied. Reed watched the three of them for a while uncertain of his status, lowering his head he released Sue's hand and ventured past her down the hall. Sluggishly he closed the bedroom door, nothing in his bedroom seemed affected by what happened.

Reed walked briskly past the bed onto the balcony. He pressed his hands against the cold concrete of the railing. Reed watched the world below zoom past him to their desired destinations, jobs, families and whatnot. Tears caressed his cheeks attempting to calm his soul in turmoil, Reed shook his head for no particular reason. What did he expect to accomplish trying to talk Enid? She obviously made her mind up on him and mutants alike. To her he wasn't her brother, but a mutant in his place.

Pushing upward he sat himself on the railing watching his legs bump against the columns beneath the rail. The cool city wind blew hard against his cheeks, he stared into space fighting sleep. His eyes were near closed when a rustling behind him caused him to open them. He whipped his face roughly then turned to inspect the origin of the sound. There was an sunken spot on his bed, Sue appeared moments later with a sympathetic expression on her face, an envelope clutched in her hand. Reed cast a weary look in her direction then returned to gazing out on the city.

"Hi Sue," Reed greeted. "I'm sorry about Enid, Reed," Sue answered, skipping right to the chase. Reed shrugged huffing. "Don't be. I'll get over it sooner or later," Reed pulled his legs from over the side of the balcony and walked back inside the bedroom, he sat on his bed with a heavy sigh. Sue leaned against his arm proceeding to flash the envelope in front of his face. Reed decided to humor the woman and attempted to snatch it from her grasp, Sue retracted her hand away in time, a small laugh escaped her. Reed's round brown eyes stared at her impatiently.

"What is it?" He nearly snapped. Sue shrugged her shoulders. "It came in the mail a week before today," Sue replied. "Its from your _other_ sister, Libby." Reed paused in astonishment, Libby hadn't written to him in _years_ since he left California, what could she possibly have to say to him now? Sue handed him the brown envelope and Reed hastily ripped it open, unfolding the bleach white paper he proceeded read.

* * *

'Dear Reed:

I'm sorry about what happened with Enid. How could she be so mean to you? I heard about the whole thing on the news (I even recorded the segment you guys were on!) and I can't see how she can be upset. Technically it wasn't your fault your atoms got fried. Anyhow, Mom and Dad aren't angry with you . . . wait, didn't I tell you this?-'

"Get to the point, Libby," Reed grumbled aloud.

"Huh?" Sue said. Reed shook his head absentmindedly. "Nothing. Libby's rambling." He answered.

'-Okay, moving on. Mom and Dad thought about coming to New York to visit you, but Dad started complaining about his back bothering him (again), so they couldn't come. I thought of coming to visit you but unfortunately I'm busy with school, so I can't make it. Arg! The real reason I'm writing this letter is because I don't want you to judge yourself because of our sister's opinion of you and mutants. And as a token of my and the folks appreciation toward you, we sent you surprise! Look in the envelope if you didn't tear it shreds! Keep up the good work Super-Bro.

Your sister,

Libby

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxo'

* * *

Reed half smiled half grumbled in annoyance as he picked up the envelope off the floor. Looking inside he spotted four small pieces of paper. Sue peered past his arm to inspect what he was staring so intently at. "How many sisters do you have, Reed?" She asked. Reed pulled his hand out of the envelope, the four pieces of paper clutched between the two fingers he had raised.

"Two, why?" He answered. Sue shrugged pulled the paper from between Reed's fingers, Reed made an attempt to retrieve them. Sue rolled across the bed onto the floor on the other side of the room. "Sue, quit playing around, give back those papers," He said irritably. Sue propped herself against the edge of the bed her elbows resting on the mattress. "Looks like four tickets to a party on a cruise to Liberty Island. First class!" Sue said in mock-surprise. Reed raised an eyebrow in question. "A cruise?" He said crawling across his bed to Sue.

Susan nodded her head pushing up from the floor, she sat next to Reed with a sigh placing her hand on his head. "Yeah, on the eight of July. Apparently we were made guests of honor, somehow or another," She mumbled, unexcited. Reed rolled his eyes. _Leave it Libby_, he thought wryly. Sue pulled herself up further on the bed with a satisfied grunt, she laid against Reed's back which promptly stiffened. Her chin propped itself on his shoulder. "Think we should go?" Her breath tickled his ear.

Reed shrugged his shoulders; He wasn't exactly in the best of moods to deal with a large group of people so soon. He laid flat on his bed, Sue adjusted herself on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. "C'mon, Reed, you could use a little R and R. In fact, you deserve some of it!" Sue insisted, remembering Reed hadn't answered her question. Reed growled irritated. "I just back from a four week leave of absence. I don't remember anything during that time and my head doesn't exactly on right, so you'll forgive me if I'm not so eager join the world just yet," Reed's voice did not raise in volume, though Sue could tell he wasn't happy with her pestering. Raising from off his back she slid across the bed onto the floor, she straightened her blouse a couple times before turning attention to the scientist. Reed raised an eyebrow at her, not in the least sorry for what he had said.

"Okay, fine I'll leave you alone. Just try not to snap my head off again when your trying to get the message across," Sue told him crossly. She left the room quickly slamming the door behind her. Reed pushed himself into a sitting position with a sigh, his mind felt strangely calm after she left.

He knew Sue was trying her best to make him feel comfortable, he knew it. But his emotions were crossed like mixed signals; The anger he felt toward Enid, the relief of acceptance from Libby and his folks, and the simple fact that he was actually back on Earth and not in the N-Zone any longer, was a just a little emotionally overwhelming. He fell back on the bed with a loud sigh. What bothered him the most was the fact that he couldn't remember anything after blacking out on the Fantasticar, Jean had said he was submerged in the Alkali Lake in Canada, unconscious. He didn't remember falling into the lake much less going to Canada, especially over New York.

Reed rubbed his temples tiredly, he pressed his face against his sheets. _Maybe I shouldn't worry about it_, he thought closing his eyes. Moments later he lapsed into a fitful sleep. Six hours later he awakened to the cover of night, all was silent. Reed pushed himself up from the mattress feeling better. Glancing down at the beside table he spotted one of the tickets. Sue probably had the rest of them.

Climbing out of the bed he ventured out of his bedroom down the hall, the familiar sounds of Ben or Johnny's snoring was oddly absent. Reed passed through the living room finding it was empty. He entered his laboratory. The overhead lights came to life when he flipped the switch, the items on his desk were in perfect order, his pencils were in the holder instead of spread on the counters.

Most of the projects he had been tinkering with were placed on the largest counter in the room, Reed scratched his head in mock-surprise. He should've known Sue would've straightened this place up sooner or later. What better time than his absence? Shaking his head at the thought he headed over to the large object in the center of the floor, covered by a blanket. The machine that was built to return them to their normal-selves. The temptation of using it again to change himself back was strong. Reed reminded himself of Libby's words and began to step away when his bare foot pressed against something hard on the floor. "Ouch!" Reed raised his leg up to inspect the bottom of his left foot.

Sticking to its surface was a round metallic object, a gasket. He pulled the small object off the bottom of his foot and examined it with a curious glint in his eye. It shone under the track light like a glittering diamond. He looked up from the gasket to stare up at the balcony, the broken window hadn't been repaired yet. Shoving the gasket into his pocket Reed grinned ruefully raising his arms over his head. They extended over to the railing. His hands grasped the railing firmly and he hoisted himself from the ground. He landed on the platform the cool night air blew softly against his skin, Reed zipped his grey sweatshirt up further.

He carefully stepped over the glass scattered on the floor and peered out of the shattered window. New York during the night was certainly a special to behold, the gray atmosphere the city usually held during the day was gone and the lights illuminated their world. He supposed most people who lived here thought it magical or just a welcoming sight. He rubbed his nose at the smell of gasoline. "Enjoying the sight?" A voice asked. Reed spun around startled out his window gazing, Sue smiled proud of the reaction she wrought from the man before her. She was leaning against the railing with her hands on her hips. "Sue," He breathed, unconsciously placing a hand on his chest.

"Ben and Johnny are out with their respective dates, if your wondering about their absence. Did you sleep well?" She inquired. Reed nodded his head. "I feel better. My limbs aren't so achy," He answered turning his arm in a circular motion. Sue stared down at his feet curiously, he was clearing standing in a pile of glass but his feet barely seemed notice this. "Are you all right? I mean really, is something bothering you?" Sue asked. Reed shrugged his shoulders without hesitance. "You mean beyond the feeling of rejection? I feel great," Reed replied. Sue gave him a look that meant 'be serious.'

"What? I'm being serious, Sue. I just needed a nap, I had jet lag or something. I'm all right now," Reed insisted. Sue shrugged her shoulders titling her head a little to the side, her long hair fell against his face masking one eye. Removing her hand from her upper arm she offered her hand to Reed. The scientist blinked confused by the gesture though he placed his hand on hers. Sue held his hand tight, the actual fear of his vanishing crossed her mind when she left the room after their _dispute_. She rubbed her thumb against the side of his hand.

"Are you sure?" Sue insisted. "Yeah, why?" Reed answered a bit uncertain. Sue shrugged her shoulders, she shook her head at the same. "There's this feeling I have about you. Its - strange, there's something different about you. I just feel it my heart," Sue answered hesitantly. Reed just stared at her strangely, there was something different about him? Sue held her head low feeling horrible she said that to him. Reed placed his finger under her chin slowly he forced her to meet his gaze, Sue's blue eyes blinked wearily at him. "I'm still _Reed_ to you, aren't I Sue?" Reed's voice was hesitant also.

"Reed . . ," Sue trailed off. The fear of being rejected by someone as close as his sisters was strong inside him now. Sue was quiet for a long time content with watching him in spite the worry etched on his features. After while Reed seemed to get the message, pulling his hand out of Sue's grasp he briskly proceeded across the platform, he made his way down the stairs without stomping.

Sue stared into space her mouth hanging agape, she spun around in time to catch Reed walking making a b-line toward the exit. Sue's legs sprang to life, she rushed down the stairs after Reed. "Wait, Reed!" He was half way through the living room when she caught up with him. Without thinking her hands were in front of her, Reed walked straight into an invisible wall blocking him from the hallway. Sue cringed inwardly at the loud bang Reed's body made when it hit the ground.

"I'm sorry Reed, I didn't mean to say that," She cried as she rushed to his side. Reed sat up rubbing his forehead trying to ignore the stinging behind his eyes. "It sure felt like you did," He mumbled trying to push himself off the ground. Sue grabbed him by the arm, slowly he stood up on his feet. "My head hurts now," Sue gave him her most apologetic look as she lead him to the couch.

Once situated on the couch Sue proceeded to examine his forehead, apart from the mild redness on the skin there was not a mark on it. Reed slouched against the back of couch staring into space, Sue saw this as her opportunity to speak. "Why'd you walk off like that?" She asked haughtily. Reed shrugged his shoulders still rubbing his forehead. "I took your silence as an answer to my question," Reed replied hotly. Sue tucked her hair behind her ear casting a angry glare in his direction. "Obviously the negative answer," She mumbled.

Reed just grunted. Sue sighed in dismay; In the few short hours Reed had been home Sue noted that he was easier to upset, like the lock he had set to keep his adittude in check was broken. He was jumping to conclusions instead of hearing her out. As much as she hated to admit it, Reed was acting like herself when she didn't want hear him out. "Your still you to me," She said quietly. Reed turned his gaze in her direction tempted to glare at her. "What?" He said pretending not to have heard her. Sue gave him an adamant look.

"I said your still - still Reed Richards to me. You're still the same guy I fell madly in love with in collage. The guy I'm still in love with," She exhaled. Reed blinked rubbing his throbbing forehead, feeling abashed. "Its like I said, don't take Enid's words to heart. Not everybody's like her," Sue said. At this Reed's eyes shifted he stared into empty space. Sue placed her hand atop of his, the flat of her fingers messaging the back of his hand. "Whether your human or gifted, your still the same guy to me. Please don't take my silence the wrong way. Your question of caught me off guard." Reed regarded Sue with a sideways glance. His anger melted away in mere seconds, taking with it all reason for his anger.

He seemed to slouch a little more into the couch as if he were trying to hide himself from the woman beside him. "I think an apology is in order," Sue chimed. "Sorry for the misunderstanding," Reed grunted. "Thank you," Sue replied grinning. Reed stood up from the couch allowing himself a stretch, his limbs were feeling achy again and the persistent need to move around was gnawing at him. Sue watched him with curious eyes until he turned her direction. "If I feel any better, I'll come with you on the cruise ship thing," Reed said. Sue raised an eyebrow at him a smile spread across her lips. She strode across the room with her arms at her side until she closed the gap between them. Reed titled his head to the side, his gaze also inquiring.

"What makes you think Ben, Johnny, or myself for that matter, are going?" Sue said draping her arms over his shoulders. Reed shrugged mock-absentmindedly. "The simple fact that three of the four tickets are missing from the table beside my bed," Reed answered coyly.

There was a twinkle in his eyes that Sue hadn't seen since before he found that blasted dimensional machine under his bed. Maybe she was wrong; Perhaps the difference in her former-boyfriend was missing the over-eagerness to examine something new. The change in him was most possibly caution, it was too early to say. "Fair enough," She giggled. She pulled him into a hug her arms enclosing around his neck. Reed gulped uncomfortably feeling awkward at first. There was no reason for such an emotion to rise. He had been hugging and kissing Sue more often than he would admit openly to Johnny who pestered him on the subject. Soon he relaxed her embrace and blew a few strands of hair out of his face, Sue's skin prickled.

"Hey, Reed," Sue whispered. "Hmm?" Was his only response. Sue pulled away from Reed long enough to catch the flash of brief disappointment run across his features. Sue's fingers gripped the sides of his arms as if preventing escape, Reed watched curiously. "Do you think we can start dating soon?" She said, her voice more casual than she wanted to come off. Reed shrugged. "I dunno. How soon do you wanna start dating again?" He asked.

Susan cocked her head to the side pondering his question carefully. A smile spread across her lips moments later. "July 8th, soon. But, you'd have to promise to show up," She said, chuckling. Hesitantly Reed leaned a little close her to her face, Sue mimicked his motion careful to keep her powers in check. "I think I can work with that," Reed answered with a chuckle of his own. Their lips brushed playfully against each other for one teasing moment before they finally proceeded into a kiss. Nothing in the world, as usual, mattered in that moment besides themselves.

Of course the two were careful to keep their emotions in check, the last thing they really wanted to do was become overwhelmed by their passion so early in the game. Sue's hands placed themselves on the side of the scientists face.

Reed's lips parted to allow himself a secret smile, his brown eyes blazed unnaturally, overjoyed. There were so many things in his head that wanted to bring him off the high he was on right now. Reed wouldn't allow it. For the moment he was happy again, the rest of the stuff he would work out gradually. And he would do it with Sue right beside him.

* * *

**(END)**


End file.
